Theaster Gates
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Theaster Gates (born August 28, 1973) is an American
social practice Social practice is a theory within psychology that seeks to determine the link between practice and context within social situations. Emphasized as a commitment to change, social practice occurs in two forms: activity and inquiry. Most often appl ...
installation artist Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often cal ...
and a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. He was born in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, where he still lives and works. Gates' work has been shown at major museums and galleries internationally and deals with urban planning, religious space, and craft. He works to revitalize underserved neighborhoods by combining
urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...
and art practices. Gates' art practice responds to
disinvestment Disinvestment refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change. The term was first used in the 1980s, most commonly in ...
in African-American urban communities, particularly after the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, addresses the importance of formal archives for remembering and valuing Black cultural forms, and disrupts artistic canons, especially those of post-painterly abstraction and color field painting.


Early life and education

Theaster Gates was born and raised in East Garfield Park on the West Side of Chicago. He was the youngest of nine children and the only son. His father was a roofer, and his mother a school teacher. His sisters passed on their interest in
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
activism, and the family attended a
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
church where Gates, a choir member, became interested in
performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...
. Gates attended
Lane Technical High School Lane Tech College Prep High School (often shortened to Lane Tech, full name Albert Grannis Lane Technical College Preparatory High School), is a public four-year selective enrollment magnet high school located in the Roscoe Village neighborhoo ...
. In 1996, Gates graduated from
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...
with a B.S. in urban planning and ceramics. After college, he worked primarily in ceramics and spent a year in
Tokoname is a Cities of Japan, city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 57,872 in 24,872 households, and a population density of 1,035 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Tokoname is located on ...
, Japan, studying pottery. He decided he wanted to explore religion in South Africa, and in 1998 he received an M.A. degree at the
University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...
in fine arts and religious studies.


Work


Early work

Gates' early work centered on his training as a ceramicist and study of comparative religions, and "many of his early projects addressed the shared significance of pottery in Japan culture and African-American cultures". In 2007, Gates organized a conceptual exhibition at the
Hyde Park Art Center The Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC) is a visual arts organization and the oldest alternative exhibition space in the city of Chicago. Since 2006, HPAC has been located just north of Hyde Park Boulevard, at 5020 S.Cornell Avenue, in the Kenwood neigh ...
titled ''Plate Convergence'' in which he staged a fictional event as an elaborate backstory for ceramic plates he had made. The fiction involved Shoji Yamaguchi, a Japanese-born potter who had emigrated to the United States after WWII and took up residence in Mississippi, where he married a local black woman and
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
activist and designed a plate especially suitable for the cuisine of black people. The plate became a centerpiece of dinner parties and salons for discussing art and politics. In Gates' words: "As the story went, amaguchiand his wife died in a car accident in 1991 and their son founded the Yamaguchi Institute to continue their vision of social transformation. I made ceramic plates, videotaped highly curated dinners and found a space for an exhibition of the ceramics and video. We gave a huge Japanese soul-food dinner, made by a Japanese chef and my sister, in honor of the Yamaguchis and their dinners. A young mixed-race artist enacted the role of their son and thanked everyone for coming." In 2008, Gates created his second fictional institution, with the exhibition "Tea Shacks, Collard Greens and the Preservation of Soul" at a temporary gallery space in Chicago that Gates dubbed the Center for the Proliferation of Afro-Asian Artifacts. In 2010, Gates created an exhibition responding to and centering around the work of
David Drake David A. Drake (September 24, 1945 – December 10, 2023) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran, he worked as a lawyer before becoming a writer in the military science fiction genre. Biography ...
, titled ''Theaster Gates: To Speculate Darkly'', at the
Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...
. In this exhibition Gates used Drake's work to address issues of craft and race in African-American history.


Rebuild Foundation

Gates is the founder and artist director of the Rebuild Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on cultural-driven
redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include ...
and affordable space initiatives in under-resourced communities. Under Gates' leadership, the Rebuild Foundation currently manages projects in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago. Rebuild gained
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
status in December 2010. Program sites include the Stony Island Arts Bank, the Black Cinema House, the Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative, Archive House, and Listening House. For the Dorchester Projects, Gates restored and converted vacant buildings into cultural institutions with archival collections from the South Side. Gates's Rebuild Foundation has
renovated Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...
two houses on Dorchester Avenue, now called the Archive House and the Listening House. The Archive House holds 14,000 architecture books from a closed bookshop. The Listening House holds 8,000 records purchased at the closing of Dr. Wax Records.


Stony Island Arts Bank

In 2013, Gates purchased the Stony Island State Savings Bank from the city of Chicago. The bank, now known as the
Stony Island Arts Bank Rebuild Foundation is a non-profit art organization focused on buildings and neighborhoods in South Side Chicago, sustaining cultural development and celebrating art. The Rebuild Foundation was founded in 2009 by Theaster Gates, a social prac ...
, contains the book collection of
John H. Johnson John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005) was an American businessman and publisher. Johnson was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson's company, with its creation of ' ...
, founder of ''
Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...
'' and '' Jet'' magazines; the record collection of
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of mus ...
, the godfather of
house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
; and slides of the collections of the University of Chicago and the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
. In 2015, his Stony Island work was included in the inaugural
Chicago Architecture Biennial The Chicago Architecture Biennial is an international exhibition of architectural ideas, projects and displays. It seeks "to provide a platform for groundbreaking architectural projects and spatial experiments that demonstrate how creativity and ...
. The physical location of the Bank has also allowed Gates to host temporary exhibitions of artists, such as
Glenn Ligon Glenn Ligon (born 1960, pronounced Lie-gōne) is an American conceptual artist whose work explores race, language, desire, sexuality, and identity.Meyer, Richard. "Glenn Ligon", in George E. Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman (eds), ''Gay Histories a ...
.


Work with archival collections

By working with archival collections centered in African-American history, Gates' work addresses issues of history, memory, and the value ascribed to Black history and cultural production. He cites the influence on his own work of, for example, the Chicago ceramicist Marva Lee Pitchford-Jolly. His 2017 piece "plantation lullabies" involved 4,000 pieces of what Gates describes as "negrobilia". This included: old sheet music, signs, pamphlets, coin banks, figurines - as part of the Edward Williams Collection. Similarly, his ''Black Image Corporation'' involved the use of
John H. Johnson John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005) was an American businessman and publisher. Johnson was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson's company, with its creation of ' ...
's photographic archive - with special focus being given to Black image-makers who were prominent during the civil rights era -
Moneta Sleet Jr In Roman mythology, Moneta (Latin Monēta) was a title given to two separate goddesses: It was the name of the goddess of memory (identified with the Greek goddess Mnemosyne), and it was an epithet of Juno, called Juno Moneta (Latin Iūno Monē ...
and Isaac Sutton. Many of his works incorporate archived objects imbued with histories of racism, like his extensive series of works made with decommissioned firehoses, including ''In Case of Race Riot Break the Glass'' (2011) and the ''Civil Tapestry'' series (2011-ongoing). The use of the hoses gestures to the extensive history of police departments using firehoses to attack protesters during the Civil Rights Movement. A 2024 exhibition at the Stony Island Arts Bank, combines original work by Gates and other artists with archival materials, furnishings and decor that Gates salvaged from the Johnson Publishing Company's South Michigan Avenue building in Chicago in 2010.


University of Chicago Arts and Public Life initiative

From 2011 to 2018, Gates was the founding director o
Arts + Public Life
at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. In this role, he oversaw staff at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, a wide network of resident and visiting artists (including current and former participants in our residency program), community participants, programmatic partners, and friends. He is also a full professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the university. Gates was also the leader of the Place Lab, a partnership between Arts + Public Life and the
Harris School of Public Policy The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy is the public policy graduate school of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located on the University of Chicago's main campus in Hyde Park. The school ...
, which worked to design and implement new approaches to urban development. The Place Lab partnered with the demonstration cities of Gary, Akron, Detroit, and other
Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...
communities.


Other exhibitions and performances

In January 2014 he designed a million-dollar installation for the South Side's 95th Street subway terminal. It is the largest public art project in the history of the
Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...
. He was participant at the 2012
DOCUMENTA (13) Documenta 13 (stylised as dOCUMENTA (13)) was the thirteenth edition of the German contemporary art exhibition Documenta. It took place between 9 June until 16 September 2012 in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition was held under the theme "collap ...
art show in
Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...
, Germany, where he exhibited "12 Ballads for Huguenot House", restoring an entire building that had housed fleeing Huguenots in the past and organising events and concerts there throughout the summer. He took part in the 2010
Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...
in New York, the
Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...
in 2010, the 2010
Art Chicago EXPO CHICAGO is an international contemporary and modern art exhibition held each year in Chicago, Illinois. In July 2023, it was announced EXPO CHICAGO had been acquired by Frieze Art Fair. EXPO CHICAGO will be held April 24–27, 2025 at Navy ...
fair. He was included in "Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft", at the
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visua ...
, and in 2013 had a solo show, ''13th Ballad'', at the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...
. On May 30, 2014, Gates and jazz pianist Jason Moran led a one-time performance entitled ''Looks of a Lot'' as part of the "Symphony Center Presents Jazz" series and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...
's "Truth to Power Festival". In summer 2015, he was invited to the 15th Istanbul Biennial, where he created "Three or four shades of blue" by setting up a pottery shop in the old town, connecting Afro-American history and craft to Iznik pottery, and more. In October 2015, Gates created an installation at
Temple Church, Bristol Temple Church, also known as Holy Cross Church, () is a ruined church in Redcliffe, Bristol, Redcliffe, Bristol, England. It is on the site of a previous, round church of the Knights Templar, which they built on land granted to them in the se ...
, England. Built in co-operation with its owner
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
, "Sanctum" will provide a venue with 24 hours of music and performance over 24 days, in a performance event funded by
Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...
and developed as part of Bristol 2015 Green Capital. In October 2020, Gates opened a large scale show at
Gagosian Gallery The Gagosian Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. As of 2024, Gagosian employs 300 people at 19 exhibiti ...
in New York City. The show titled is ''Black Vessel''. The show explores themes of family life, maternal love, and manual labor. Many of the materials he used in the show are roofing materials, an homage to his father who worked as a roofer. The central installation is the main gallery, which Gates lined with bricks fired black at a South Carolina
brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a clay pit, quar ...
. Gates cited the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and the time he spent alone as having created an environment within which to incubate his ideas. His exhibition ''Future Histories: Theaster Gates and Cauleen Smith'', appeared at the SF MOMA from October 2020-May 2021. ''A Clay Sermon'' at London's
Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fi ...
went on display from October – January 2021. In addition to a new film work and a series of ceramic vessels, the exhibition included a selection of historic ceramics from private and public collections, including the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, where he has been emeritus Fellow at the V&A Research Institute. As part of Gates's 2021–2022 London take-over, he also mounted an exhibition at
White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...
Mason's Yard, ''Oh, The Wind Oh, The Wind'' and a display ''Slight Intervention #5'' at Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition, ''Theaster Gates: When Clouds Roll Away: Reflection and Restoration from the Johnson Archive'', opened at the Stony Island Arts Center in 2024. The Smart Museum of Art is scheduled to run ''Theaster Gates: Unto Thee'' from September 23, 2025 to February 22, 2026, which has been described as "the first large-scale attempt by a Chicago institution to place a traditional museum framework around a local artist best known for 20 years of non-traditional, not-always-gallery-obvious works." It will include new paintings, sculptures, and films, intermingled with some of his reclamation projects, and will extend outside the Smart Museum to some of Gates' other spaces.


Future projects

Gates designed the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion for
Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...
. Gates working as a team with architects Asif Khan Studio, Sir
David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect who has designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History, National Museum of African American History and ...
, and Mariam Kamara will undertake The Waterfront Transformation: Canning Dock project, which is part of the 10-year plan of
National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool in Merseyside, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The mu ...
to transform the city's waterfront. They will redevelop the site's buildings including the Dr Martin Luther King Jr building, which will sit at the centre of the
International Slavery Museum The International Slavery Museum is a museum located in Liverpool, UK, that focuses on the history and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. The museum, which forms part of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, consists of three main galleries whic ...
. Gates has described Liverpool's Canning Dock as representing "one of the most important racialised sites in the UK" and that the team wanted to "give emotional heft to the truth of slavery in the UK historically" by "using the tools of monument making and memorialising and commemoration".


Recognition

* 2008 – Artadia Award * 2012 – Fellow of
United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...
* 2012 – "Innovator of the Year" by the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' * 2012 – #56 in ''
ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...
'' list of the hundred most powerful people in the art world * 2013 – Inaugural Award of
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics The Vera List Center for Art and Politics is an American nonprofit research organization and public forum for art, culture, and politics, established in 1992. Vera List was an American art collector and philanthropist. The Vera List Center awar ...
* 2013 – #40 in ''ArtReview'' list of the hundred most powerful people in the art world * 2014 – #44 in ''ArtReview'' list of the hundred most powerful people in the art world * 2014 – International Artist Award,
Anderson Ranch Arts Center Anderson Ranch Arts Center is a non-profit arts organization and art gallery founded in 1966 and located in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The center hosts an artist residency program, summer arts workshops and a January workshop intensive. About ...
* 2015 – £40,000
Artes Mundi Artes Mundi (Latin: ''arts of the world'') is an international arts organisation based in Cardiff, Wales. Established in 2002, it is committed to supporting international contemporary visual artists whose work engages with social reality and lived ...
award in
Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
, Wales * 2015 – Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from
San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...
* 2015 – Smithsonian Magazine American Ingenuity Award for Social Progress * 2016 – Kurt Schwitters Prize for 2017 * 2017 – Chevalier de l'
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
from the French Ambassador to the United States,
Gérard Araud Gérard Araud (born 20 February 1953) is a retired French diplomat who served as Ambassador of France to the United States from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Director General for Political and Security Affairs of the Ministry of Foreig ...
* 2018 – Nasher Prize Laureate at the
Nasher Sculpture Center Opened in 2003, the Nasher Sculpture Center is a museum in Dallas, Texas, that houses the Patsy and Raymond Nasher collection of modern and contemporary sculpture. It is located on a site adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art in the Dal ...
* 2018 –
Urban Land Institute The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a global nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI aims to help its members and their partners build more equitable, sustainable, heal ...
J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development * 2019 – #20 in ''ArtReview'' list of the hundred most powerful people in the art world * 2021 – Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts * 2021 – #4 in ''ArtReview'' list of the hundred most powerful people in the art world * 2023 –
Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...
Award * 2025 -
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...


Philanthropy

Since 2016, Gates has been serving on the board of the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...
. In 2017, he served on the selection committee for the design of the
Barack Obama Presidential Center The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a planned museum, library, and education project in Chicago to commemorate the presidency of Barack Obama, the List of presidents of the United States, 44th President of the United States, president of the ...
in Chicago. In 2018, along with
David Adjaye Sir David Frank Adjaye (born 22 September 1966) is a Ghanaian-British architect who has designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History, National Museum of African American History and ...
and
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...
, Gates curated the third (RED) auction in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
to support the
Global Fund The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tu ...
's work against
AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
, raising a total $10.5 million, including matching funds by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...
. Since 2019, he has been co-chairing the fashion group
Prada Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding ...
's Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, alongside
Ava DuVernay Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. She is a recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, NAACP Image Awards, a British Academy Film Awards, ...
.


Notable works in public collections

*''Whyte Painting (KOH0015)'' (2010),
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...
,
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
*''Whyte Painting (NGGRWR 00021)'' (2010),
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...
*''Civil Tapestry 4'' (2011),
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
*''Minority Majority'' (2012),
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
*''Hose for Fire and Other Tragic Encounters'' (2014),
Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs a ...
,
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
*''Ground Rules (black line)'' (2015),
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
,
Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
*''Ground rules. Free throw'' (2015),
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
,
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
,
Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
*''Progress'' (2016),
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...
,
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
*''Ship of Zion'' (2016),
Colby College Museum of Art The Colby College Museum of Art is an art museum on the campus of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1959 and now comprising five wings, nearly 8,000 works and more than 38,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Colby College Museu ...
,
Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. A college town, the city is home to Colby College, a New England Small College Athletic Conference, NESCAC college, and Thomas College. As ...
*'' Black Vessel for a Saint'' (2017),
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is an park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is located near the Walker Art Center, which operates it in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. It reopened June 10, 2017, ...
,
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...
*''“Do you hear me calling?” (Mama Mamama or What is Black Power)'' (2018),
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...
and
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...


References


Bibliography

* Carol Becker, Lisa Yun Lee, Achim Borchardt-Hume, ''Theaster Gates'',
Phaidon Phaidon is an ancient Greek name that may refer to: *Phaedo of Elis, philosopher *''Phaedo'', one of Plato's dialogues named after Phaedo of Elis who appears in it *Phaidon Press, a publisher *'' Phaidon Design Classics'', a 2006 British three volum ...
, London, 2015. * Bill Brown, Fred Moten, Jacqueline Terrassa, ''Theaster Gates: My Labor Is My Protest'',
White Cube White Cube is a contemporary art gallery founded by Jay Jopling in London in 1993. The gallery has two branches in London: White Cube Mason's Yard in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London; White Cube Hong Kong, in Centra ...
, London, 2013. * Michael Darling, Matthew Day Jackson, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, ''Theaster Gates: 12 Ballads for Huguenot House'', Walther König, Cologne, 2012.


Further reading

*Tom McDonough
"Interview: Theaster Gates"
''Bomb Magazine'' 130, Winter 2015
"Force of nature"
''LUX Magazine'', October 11, 2013 *Mark Godfrey
"Designs for Life"
''Frieze Magazine'', September 1, 2012
"The New Revolutionary"
''Mousse Magazine'', 2011


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Theaster 1973 births 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American artists African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists American installation artists Artists from Chicago Iowa State University alumni Living people University of Cape Town alumni University of Chicago people Urban renewal