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Theaster
Gates

Theaster Gates
Social Practice Artist
Chicago, IL
2012 USA Fellow

This award was generously supported by Marion Boulton "Kippy" Stroud.
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Theaster Gates employs urban planning, sculpture, and social practice in performances, installations, and urban interventions. In his expansive artistic practice, Gates has assembled gospel choirs, formed temporary unions, converted abandoned buildings into cultural spaces, and created sculptures. In The Dorchester Project (2009), Gates restored a building in Chicago to house a 14,000-volume library from an art and architecture bookstore as well as a collection of glass slides from the University of Chicago Art History Department, all of which are available to the local community. Gates is the Director of Arts and Public Life and Resident Artist at the University of Chicago.

Portrait photo courtesy Lloyd DeGrane for University of Chicago Magazine.

  • Artwork by Theaster Gates
    Raising Goliath, 2012; photo credit Ben Westoby
Artwork by Theaster Gates