Archinect - News

Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation adds to leadership team in Chicago

2023-07-21T14:24:00-04:00

The celebrated ongoing restoration of Chicago’s St. Laurence elementary school by the Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation has added new leadership to support the $10.35 million project, which broke ground on the city’s South Side in May 2022.

The Foundation shares that Nonprofit Operations Strategist Racheal Allen, Special Collections Librarian Heather Hummons, and Director of Finance Mileak Harper have all been hired in support of the initiative, which seeks to “[support] artists of color and their livelihoods, while bringing new cultural resources into the South Side community.”

Once completed the project will deliver a total of 40,000-square-feet 40,000 square feet of artist studios, co-working floors, a research archive, classrooms, and spaces dedicated to various objects from the Foundation's own collection.

Previously on Archinect: Theaster Gates' newest community arts incubator breaks ground on Chicago's South Side

In a statement, Gates said: “Central to the redemption of St. L...

Theaster Gates' newest community arts incubator breaks ground on Chicago's South Side

2022-05-10T17:22:00-04:00

On the heels of another recent multimillion-dollar community revitalization effort through his non-profit Rebuild Foundation, 2022 Serpentine Pavilion designer Theaster Gates was back in the South Side last week to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new St. Laurence Arts Incubator in Chicago.

Joined by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Gates spoke about the new $10.35 million project, which will transform a disused elementary school — shuttered since 2002 — into a “think tank and makerspace” for local artists with 40,000 square feet of studios, co-working, research, educational, and entrepreneurial spaces. The new initiative joins Gates’ Prada-backed Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, also located on the South Side, that was announced last summer.

Image courtesy of the Rebuild Foundation

“The St. Laurence renovation is a work of art in and of itself," local philanthropist Alec Litowitz said in a statement prior to the May 3rd groundbreaking ceremony. "Resurrecting this ab...

Theaster Gates teams up with Prada to launch incubator for emerging designers of color

2021-09-02T17:01:00-04:00

Theaster Gates is teaming up with Prada to launch a program that will support and invest in up-and-coming artists and designers of color.

Dorchester Industries, the design and manufacturing arm of Theaster Gates Studio, in partnership with Gates’ Rebuild Foundation and Prada Group, announced the launch of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab. Based on the South Side of Chicago, it is a three-year program that will serve as a platform for artists of color by creating opportunities to amplify their work, invest in their development, and expose them to organizations looking to work with diverse talent.

Designers in the areas of fashion, furniture, industrial and graphic design, and the arts will be trained, funded, and mentored through design awards and public programming. It will provide a platform for exhibitions, performances, and public dialogue, creating “a nucleus of design intelligence on the South Side,” as stated on Gates’ Instagram.

Related on Archinect: A Con...

Theaster Gates leading $4.5 million revitalization of garden in Chicago's South Side

2021-07-29T18:19:00-04:00

Adding to his ongoing effort to transform neglected areas of Chicago’s South Side into sustainable community spaces, artist, educator, and urban planner Theaster Gates is embarking on a $4.5 million revitalization of a garden.

The 1.3-acre Kenwood Gardens is located in Chicago’s Grand Crossing neighborhood, which is home to a number of Gates’ restoration projects. Most notably, there's the Stony Island Arts bank, a public arts space and library, that was formerly a fully operating local bank.

For the garden, Gates, along with head of planting for the garden, Chris Abraham, envision spaces for educational programming, meditation, and community-focused gardening. The once overgrown plot of land will be converted into an oasis, featuring Minnie Pearl Phlox, Lilac Squirrel, and more.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Theaster Gates (@theastergates)

So far, $1.5 million worth of work has been completed, denoted as phase one, which is about beautifying the...

Theaster Gates to design the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion

2021-05-18T17:34:00-04:00

Artist and urban planner Theaster Gates has been selected to design the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion. This will be the first time that the Serpentine Gallery has awarded this commission to a non-architect. Gates is currently a professor at the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. Utilizing his background in urban planning, his work focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance, integrating sound, motion, Black history, and architectural features.

His most famous work, the ongoing Dorchester Projects, began in 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis when Gates bought a number of rundown properties on Chicago’s South Side, where he grew up and currently lives. In collaboration with architects and designers, he converted these derelict buildings into community centers and cultural institutions. He also repurposed the scrap within these sites as art and injected the money made back into the neighborhood. Projects include the Archive House, for...

Architecture as urban regeneration: Theaster Gates, Art + Practice, and Assemble

2015-11-03T18:19:00-05:00

Most architects don’t build economic engines into their projects, and [Assemble's Anna] Lisogorskaya is quick to note that this type of intervention doesn’t make sense everywhere. [...] But she does argue that things such as economic sustainability and local jobs are inherently interconnected with any effort to rehabilitate a neighbourhood. The architecture is only part of the project, and can only do so much on its own.