The Watermill Center has long been home to creativity and expression, awarding residencies and fellowships to artists from across the globe for decades. Artists who reside for a period of time at The Watermill Center are provided with space and freedom to develop their work. The communal environment encourages experimentation. This was the brainchild of avant-garde theater director and visionary Robert Wilson, who opened the facility in 1992. The space has continued to encourage artists ever since.
Each Artist-in-Residence receives exclusive access to The Center’s expansive art collection, research library, theatrical archives, carefully curated facilities, and manicured grounds as tools in the creation of new and exciting work.
James Lane Post was invited to spend a day with the artists and team at The Watermill Center in April, viewing the works in progress and touring the expansive facility.
Throughout 2022, the venue will be home to 21 artists from France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Taiwan, and Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas — participating in The Center’s Artist Residency Program, Inga Maren Otto Fellowship, and the new Nina von Maltzahn Fellowship.
During our visit, we received an intimate look at the work of American sculptor Brian Block, Greek interdisciplinary artist Maria Louizou, and Polish choreographer Ola Maciejewska, the day prior to each artist displaying during In Process @ the Watermill Center, an ongoing series of open rehearsals and studio visits that invites the community to gain insight into how artists from across the globe develop new work, while they are in the process of doing so.
Artist Brian Block spent his residency at The Center writing and researching “The Notes of F.C. Wott, File 12: Theories,” creating a large-scale multi-panel work comprised of over 100 image and text panels.
“I was a summer intern in 2000,” said Block, “and I have retained a love for The Watermill Center and its community ever since. It was a transformative summer in so many ways; not the least was creatively. The Center offered so many possibilities for creative extension — collaboration, collecting, curating, contemplation, creation, architecture, gastronomy — all ways of expanding one’s ways of living.”
Block, who lives and works as a sculptor in New York City and Grafton, creates work that stems from original research into the language and ideology of selected “perceptual authorities.”
“In my practice I’m involved a lot in consciousness and cognition and philosophy perception — and of course language — so in a general sense that started my approach to art which was really more from books than from studio,” he said of his work. “The narrative largely exists in the viewer’s head and that is something that interests me a lot. I picked this up from the minimalists and I was very inspired by the mental space that exists between some of the work and the viewers mind.”
Greek sculptor and interdisciplinary artist Maria Louizou explored The Watermill Center’s collection for Phonetic Costume during her residency. It was for a research-based project, which will develop into an audio-visual installation. Louizou creates large-scale sculptures, which provide the audience with space for interaction and expression, with vocal compositions that are inspired by traditional female vocal laments.
“After my experience as a summer resident at The Watermill Center in 2019, I felt the need to participate again,” said Louizou. “I believe that there are still uncountable opportunities to explore, which only this particular community and environment can offer, one of which is to examine the permanent collection of The Watermill Center. I also think that The Center is the only place in which intensive work in nature generates new perceptions of making art.”
Her work at The Watermill Center included soft sculpture using thick threads, a self-made weaving loom created out of found materials on the property, and wooden support construction — to create a large-scale costume in which she will enter and perform one of her vocal compositions.
“I’m creating individual places that I can put myself inside,” she said. “During the creation of the form I am trying the vocals that I want to practice.”
She describes how the materials create a safe space. “That’s why I use this element now, this material, that makes you feel comfort. It’s a second skin, with another form, another body, and you can perform and be the voice.”
Polish dancer and choreographer Ola Maciejewska, who is based in France, was a recipient of the 2022 Baroness Nina von Maltzahn Fellowship for the Performing Arts at The Watermill Center. During her fellowship, she continued the development of “CYKLE,” a serpentine dance meant for two dancers based on the work of Loïe Fuller.
“It’s so nice to be working among these objects. Usually we are confined in dance. It’s more natural for me to work this way,” she said. “I started working outdoors. In dance we say that there are no objects, but there are plenty of objects.”
Fabric constructions, activated by bodies, act as a medium between the body and the world and as machines that produce a constant flow of movement. The images produced from these evocative constructions are confronted with the image of a specific body engaging in vocal practice.
“Our newest program, the Baroness Nina von Maltzahn Fellowship for the Performing Arts, allows us to invite artists like Ola, who might not have otherwise engaged with The Watermill Center,” said Elka Rifkin, Director of The Watermill Center. “The Fellowship brings in emerging and established talents from across the globe, allowing the East End community to connect with artists at exciting moments in their career.”
The next In Process will take place on Thursday, May 26, with current artists-in-residence interdisciplinary performer Nile Harris, writer Helen Betya Rubinstein, composer Adam Lenz, and dancer Miki Orihara.
“The Watermill Center has become a creative home for me,” shared Lenz. “I have been visiting the site for nearly a decade to collaborate with Bob and other artists, as well as to support the activities at The Center. Coming to The Watermill Center was the first time I felt like I was part of a community of artists. It is really meaningful to return this year to develop this project at a place that has been a major part of my creative development.”
“This group of artists is exciting for us, as they are all intimately interacting with and drawing inspiration from The Center in unique ways,” said Rifkin. “Each artist is exploring the facilities, The Watermill Collection, or our grounds as a space to experiment and reflect on their work. It’s amazing to have artists on site who are so deeply engaged and inspired by the full breadth of resources available here at The Center, from our facilities and grounds to our collection and library. Their varied explorations and approaches offer new insights into The Watermill Center for visitors during In Process.”
“The year ahead is an exciting moment for The Watermill Center,” shared Managing Director Elise Herget. “2022 is the first time since February 2020 that we are back at full capacity, and we are using this opportunity to further expand our commitment to supporting our community of artists.”
This year artists-in-residence also include visual artist Ville Andersson, multidisciplinary artist Kader Attia, musician Eli Berman, architect Marie de Testa, artist collective For Freedoms, interdisciplinary artist Joyce Ho, author Amanda Johnston, performance collective KOR’SIA, pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito of Passepartout Duo, performance scholar Matthew Randle-Bent, conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, multidisciplinary artist STUDIOTASSY, dancer and educator Ogemdi Ude, and choreographer Netta Yerushalmy.
The Watermill Center’s residency partners include The Parrish Art Museum, which will present the work of For Freedoms and Hank Willis Thomas for its summer Platform series, and YoungArts: The National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists, which supports a residency at The Center each year for one YoungArts alumnus, this year awarded to Eli Berman, who will receive additional guidance and mentorship from Watermill’s network of international artists.
“Our partnerships are one way we help support the artists during their stay at The Center, and the life of their work once they leave,” said Herget. “Supporting our alumni is vital to our mission. Whether through offering them use of our non-profit status through our fiscal sponsorship program or by offering them week-long retreats for research and development, we’re constantly seeking new ways to support our growing family of artists.”
For more information on The Watermill Center, visit watermillcenter.org.