Filmmakers Avant-garde
Silvano Bussotti is an Italian composer, painter and opera director, set and costume designer.
Silvano learned to play the violin at an early age, studied harmony and counterpoint at the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, and studied with various teachers. In addition to music, he was fond of drawing and painting. His first works, influenced by Luigi Dallapiccola and Roberto Lupi, were written in the avant-garde dodecaphonic technique, and he also made extensive use of the aleatoric method. Bussotti was a participant in "anti-music" concerts, for which he created works without any sounds at all.
Bussotti's compositions include numerous pieces for various vocal, instrumental and mixed ensembles. In 1963 he co-founded the Group of 70 (Florence). Between 1968 and 2001 he worked as a director, costume designer and stage designer at the leading opera houses in Italy, La Scala, La Fenice; Massimo (Palermo), Reggio (Turin) and others. In total, he created about 40 opera productions.
Bussotti's art exhibitions are held in various countries around the world. Bussotti is also known for his extravagant graphic scores, in which he found self-expression as an artist, but this hides the meaningful nature of his musical achievements.
Bahman Mohassess was an Iranian painter, sculptor, translator, and theatre director. His oeuvre comprises paintings, sculptures and collages. Known as "the irreverent" artist, Mohasses is said to have destroyed many of his own works, and those that become available at auction are now highly sought after. Mohassess is the most prominent artist who was openly gay in Iran, which is still stigmatized. He was the subject of the Mitra Farahani film documentary, Fifi Howls from Happiness (2013).
Robert Wilson is an American experimental theater stage director and playwright who has been described by The New York Times as «America's – or even the world's – foremost vanguard theater artist.» He has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video artist, and sound and lighting designer.