Contact: Jerry Kajpust Deputy Director for External Relations [email protected] 212-431-2609

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Art presents an extraordinary evening with Robert Wilson

The Old Woman, with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe. Direction, set design, and lighting concept by Robert Wilson. Photograph © Lucie Jansch.

The Theater and the Theater Outside the Theater: Robert Wilson in Conversation Sunday, August 17th, 6 to 8 pm Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art 26 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013

[July, 2014—New York] The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art at 26 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10013 invites you to join us on Sunday, August 17th, from 6 – 8 pm for an extraordinary evening of conversation between Robert Wilson, Jonathan David Katz, and Peter Harvey, an artist and set designer who has known Robert for more than 50 years.

After a short film highlighting Wilson’s work, the three will talk about poignant moments of Wilson’s career, the relationship between sexuality and creativity, and the Watermill Center—a unique environment for young and emerging artists from around the world to explore new ideas. This talk is a rare opportunity to hear Robert Wilson as he seldom speaks publically in New York. The Museum is honored that he has chosen our organization for this special speaking engagement. Wilson was very

1 involved with the Museum through his support of the Paul Thek exhibition that would not have been possible without the support of the Watermill Center.

Robert Wilson is an American experimental theater stage director and playwright who has been described by the media as "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost avant-garde 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video artist, and sound and lighting designer. He is best known for his collaborations with Philip Glass on Einstein on the Beach, and with numerous other artists, including Heiner Müller, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Gavin Bryars, Darryl Pinckney, Rufus Wainwright, Marina Photograph © Abramović and Lady Gaga. Ping Hsu Since the late 1960s, Wilson's productions have decisively shaped the look of theater and opera. Through his signature use of light, his investigations into the structure of a simple movement, and the classical rigor of his scenic and furniture design, Wilson has continuously articulated the force and originality of his vision. Wilson's close ties and collaborations with leading artists, writers, and musicians continue to fascinate audiences worldwide.

Admission: $30

Members $20 with promotional code (contact museum for code details or to join and become a Museum member)

Limited seating available. Tickets are available only through Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/WrZA8D

Once tickets are sold out, a limited number (20) of tickets at full price will be available via a lottery. You may enter this special lottery by emailing your name and contact information by August 11th to: [email protected]. (only one ticket per person will be available)

Jonathan David Katz: Born in 1958, Katz is an American activist, art historian, educator and writer. Presently, he is the Director of the doctoral program in Visual culture studies at State University of New York at Buffalo. He is also the former executive coordinator of the Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies at . He is a former chair of the Department of Lesbian and Gay studies at the City College of San Francisco, and was the first tenured faculty in gay and lesbian studies in the . He received his Ph.D. from in 1996. Katz was co-curator with David C. Ward and Jenn Sichel of the exhibition "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" at the National Portrait Gallery, the first major museum exploration of the impact of same-sex desire in the creation of modern American portraiture.

Peter Harvey: Born in Guatemala, the same year as Paul Thek, of English parents, Harvey became well known in New York as a theatrical designer. His career reached a new high in 1999 with the recreation of his 1967 production of George Balanchine's "Jewels" for the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia. Following

2 this, he totally redesigned Jewels for the NYC Ballet in 2004, and this production remains in the current repertoire -- Other highlights of his 30 years in the theater have been the full length Balanchine ballet "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Zurich Opera, the New York and London productions of the breakthrough drama "Boys in the Band" and the hit musical "Dames at Sea". Harvey's biography is in "Who's Who in the Theatre.” He has been honored for designs on television and for the stage, and his designs have toured in exhibitions around the world as well as having been reproduced in publications ranging from textbooks to theater histories. In 2007, he curated StageStruck, an exhibition of collaboration of gay theatre designers, at the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation.

About the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art “…invaluable museum.” Holland Cotter, New York Times, June 2013 Best place for gay culture, Time Out New York: New York's Best 2012

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art is the first and only dedicated gay and lesbian art museum in the world with a mission to exhibit and preserve gay and lesbian art, and foster the artists who create it. The Museum has a permanent collection of over 22,000 objects, 6-8 major exhibitions annually, artist talks, film screenings, readings, THE ARCHIVE - a quarterly art newsletter, a membership program, and a research library. The Leslie-Lohman Museum is operated by the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, Inc., a non-profit founded in 1987 by Charles W. Leslie and Fritz Lohman, who have supported gay and lesbian artists for over 30 years. The Leslie-Lohman Museum embraces the rich creative history of the gay and lesbian art community by informing, inspiring, entertaining, and challenging all who enter its doors.

The Museum is located at 26 Wooster Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. Admission is free, and hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 12-6 pm, and Thursday, 12-8 pm. The Museum is closed Monday and all major holidays. The Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization and is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)3 of the IRS Code. The Museum can be reached at 212- 431-2609. For more information, go to LeslieLohman.org.

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