WATERMILL CENTER
Friendship and mutual esteem linked Carla Fendi and Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi with the celebrated American artist Robert Wilson. Multifaceted and visionary — director, playwright, choreographer, performer, as well as painter, sculptor, video artist, light and sound designer — Wilson, through his work that spanned multiple art forms, has revolutionized the world of theatre. The Carla Fendi Foundation has helped support the Watermill Center, his creative retreat and educational hub for new generations of artists.
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BOB WILSON AND THE SPOLETO FESTIVAL
Still unknown at the time, Wilson was invited by Giancarlo Menotti to the Spoleto Festival back in 1974. He subsequently took part in the Festival many times over the course of his career, with productions always marked by an extraordinary experimental and aesthetic approach to art. It was in Spoleto that the bond of affection and admiration between Carla Fendi and the artist was born. Wilson later received the Carla Fendi Award in 2012, while Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi chose to support his activity for the development of new talents by helping to sustain the Watermill Center, the hub for artist residencies that Wilson created in the early 1990s on Long Island. In particular, the Foundation contributed to the maintenance of the Center’s gardens.
THE WATERMILL'S GARDENS
The Watermill Center, set on ten acres of land, hosts a campus immersed in a natural environment with wooded areas, scenic views, and flowering gardens, punctuated by sculptures and artistic installations. There is no separation between studio and gallery, nor between living and working spaces, and the artists in residence on the campus use the various landscapes as an integral part of their work. As Wilson himself wrote to the Foundation: “This land has been inhabited for millennia by the Shinnecock Native Americans. It is a natural sanctuary that invites the community and visitors to walk and reflect. The gardens are a source of inspiration for the hundreds of artists who come to the Center each year to immerse themselves in nature and connect with one another. They are fundamental to our mission and offer artists time, space, and freedom to realize their works.”
