(c) Antoine Wagner
Antoine Wagner, great great grandson of Richard Wagner, has his show ‘Common Denomonator’ opening at the Opéra Bastille in Paris today. During two months the French National Opera pays an homage to Richard Wagner with photos made by Antoine. For this project Wagner has followed a route in the steps of his renowned ancestor.
Antoine Wagner, son of Eva Wagner-Pasquier, one of the managers of the Bayreuth Festival, was born in Evanston, Illinois on May 21st 1982. He was raised in Munich, London and Paris. He studied Theater and Political Sciences at Northwestern University and Sciences-Po, Paris.
Soon after graduation he was invited to partake in Bob Wilsons Watermill Foundation in 2005. Upon completion of the Wilson’s summer program he moved to New York, where he benefited from the offers of the NYU Continuing Education Program to acquire a practical knowledge in most areas of the filmmaking process. In 2007 he had the privilege to be invited by director Michael Haneke to work as his translator and personal assistant on his American remake of ‘Funny Games’. This invaluable hand-on experience confirmed Wagner in his decision to pursue his first steps in the world of image.
Wagners first art installation Lisz[:t:]raum , took place in Raiding, Austria, Luxemburg and Bayreuth in 2006 for the artist’s jubilee and the opening of the concert house in Wagners great-great-great grandfathers birth place. In 2009/2010 after the directing of their official video for their Grammy award winning single ‘Lisztomania’, Wagner followed Phoenix and produced and directed the subsequent documentary covering Phoenix’s world tour in ‘From a mess to the masses’. It premiered on French/German TV channel ARTE in October 2011.
His recent participation in ‘Wagner. The Swiss Years’ directed by Andy Sommer for the Swiss television is his first appearance in front of the camera. Wagners first book ‘Wagner in der Schweiz’ is published by ‘Verlag fur Moderne Kunst’. A series of exhibition of his photos have taken place during 2013 (in Venice, Bayreuth, Leipzig, Luzern, and Nuremberg).
More informaion and pictures: http://www.antoinewagner.com/
