[19][20] During this period, Robbins was creating Watermill, a ballet with music by Teiji Ito, with early rehearsals and workshops taking place outdoors in Water Mill, New York.

[22][23] In 1992, Wilson acquired The Watermill Center's current facilities, which had previously housed a telecommunications laboratory for Western Union, and began to stage experimental performances on site.

Author Brad Gooch worked at Watermill on a production of Persephone, staged by Wilson in 1995,[6] and Isabelle Huppert rehearsed her role in Virginia Woolf's Orlando in 1993,[24] returning in 2006 to act in Heiner Müller's Quartet.

[24] In 2000 Watermill was the origin point for a production of Lady from the Sea and in 2003–04, Wilson's epic theater work I La Galigo[25] with a cast of 53 Indonesian actors was developed there.

2020[37] 2019[38] 2018[39] 2017[40] 2016[41] Every summer since 1993, the Watermill Center has hosted an outdoor performance festival showcasing the work of hundreds of young artists and drawing an audience of notable guests from New York and elsewhere.

Called "without a doubt, the most creative art event for the Hamptons summer colony,"[42] by the New York Times, the benefit has featured performances by the likes of Rufus Wainwright, and CocoRosie, with installations of artwork by Dieter Meier, Lady Gaga, Jonathan Meese, Daniel Arsham, Pussy Riot, and others.

A public forum featuring prominent figures in the arts, design, and science, including: Philip Glass, Pussy Riot, Fern Mallis, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Marina Abramović, Cornel West, Hilton Als, Daniel Libeskind, and others.

In 2008 German artist Jonathan Meese was given carte blanche to create "Marlene Dietrich in Dr. No's Ludovico-Clinic (Dr. Baby's Erzland)", an immersive installation within The Watermill Center.

[53][60] Artists who have worked and exhibited at Watermill include: Nari Ward, Cory Arcangel, Liz Glynn, Misaki Kawai, Peter Coffin, CocoRosie, Ragnar Kjartansson, Christopher Knowles, Ryan McNamara, John Bock, Sue de Beer, Matt Mullican, Shirin Neshat, William Pope.L, Alvin Baltrop, Tilda Swinton, Jorinde Voigt, Alvin Lucier, Tony Matelli, Lucinda Childs, Jim Jarmusch, Oliver Beer, Stephen Laub, Kirk Knight, Cleon Peterson, Jack Ferver, Tori Wraanes, Noel McKenna, Enric Ruiz Geli, and Wang Qingsong.