A.J. Weissbard
art, direction, and design, with light and space
A.J. Weissbard is an accomplished multifaceted artist. Early in his career he emerged with a talent for lighting design, but most recently for scenic and visual art, directing, curation, and even arts administration. Using light and space as raw materials, he creates genre-defying works for theater, opera, and dance, exhibitions, permanent architectural installations, special events, and fashion, worldwide. His collaborations include projects with Robert Wilson, Peter Stein, Luca Ronconi, Marina Abramovic, Peter Greenaway, William Kentridge, David Cronenberg, Andriy Zholdak, Shirin Neshat, Gae Aulenti, Fabio Novembre, Giorgio Armani, Brioni, Hugo Boss, Ermenegildo Zegna, CocoRosie, and the Martha Graham Dance Company, among many others.
His work has been seen in major opera houses, festivals, theaters, and other sites in more than 50 countries around the world including Lincoln Center New York, Los Angeles Opera, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Paris Opera Garnier, Brussels Opera La Monnaie, Teatro Real Madrid, Epidaurous, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Esplanade Singapore, Bunka Kaikan Tokyo, Teatro Municipal São Paolo, Royal Opera House Muscat, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow; Guggenheim New York and Bilbao, Royal Academy of London, Petit Palais Paris, Vitra Design Museum, Milan Triennale, Quirinale of Rome, Kunstindustrimuseum Copenhagen, Shanghai Art Museum; Aichi World Expo, Milan Salone del Mobile, the Venice Biennale, and the Louvre Paris.
His recent successes include Eternal Offerings, an exhibition with Tim Yip at Minneapolis Institute of Art; directing Six Characters in Search of an Author, in collaboration with Seminar Kibbutzim; design for the ballet In Esisto, with emerging choreographer Vittoria Girelli at Stuttgart Ballet; Letter to a Man by Robert Wilson and Mikhail Baryshikov; Armani / Silos; Vladimir Rannev’s, Slaughterhouse-Five at the Hellerau European Centre for the Arts; Carmen at the Opera of Montpellier; and Mikhail Barishnikov’s Don Quixote at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
His work has been awarded Russia’s Golden Mask for lighting design, the first IFSArts award, and the Latvia’s Great Music award for best musical production, among many others.
In addition to teaching and lecturing at numerous institutions and schools around the world, he served as Program Director of the Watermill Summer Program guiding scores of young artists and producing hundreds of projects. A.J. Weissbard advocates for education in the arts.
updated 2023