The National Building Museum announced that Theaster Gates will be the 25th recipient of the Vincent Scully Prize. Initiated in 1999, the award serves as a recognition of excellence in the fields of design, architecture, historic preservation, urban design, encompassing practice, and criticism. Theaster Gates is an artist internationally renowned for his interdisciplinary blend of social performance, urban regeneration, and cultural activations.
Theaster Gates is best known for his original perspective on art and societal development, which finds its roots primarily in Chicago. Through the use of land development, sculpture, performance, and spatial theory, his work explores Black culture from a variety of angles. In fact, he reinvented the artist's role as a change catalyst, thinker, maker, and builder. Gates has made it his mission to revitalize run-down areas, drawing on his experience in urban planning and preservation and emphasizing the idea of "life within things." Gates has also pioneered a ground-breaking concept for land art and community investment that has won praise from city planners, architects, artists, and innovators alike.
Theaster Gates was selected as the recipient of the Vincent Scully Prize by a committee that was chaired by Ellen Dunham-Jones and comprised prominent figures, notably Paul Goldberger, Nancy Levinson, Stephen Luoni, and Walter Hood. Gates' "collecting practice" was one of the features of his work that captivated the jury's attention and helped to secure his selection for the Scully Prize. When he acquired the 14,000-volume Prairie Avenue Bookshop Archive and stored it in a renovated building inside the Dorchester Projects in Chicago in 2009, this practice became widely known. He gradually grew his collection to include 10,000 LPs from a local record shop, 60,000 glass lantern slides from the University of Chicago's art history department, and various historical artifacts. This unique collecting practice seeks to preserve and amplify the value, histories, and stories held within these objects.
In 2010, Theaster Gates founded the nonprofit Rebuild Foundation, which fosters art, culture, and neighborhood improvement. Through free arts programs and cutting-edge cultural facilities in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, this charity helps artists and strengthens communities. In fact, more than 40 abandoned buildings have been saved through the foundation's efforts. Overall, Gates actively seeks to construct cultural places highlighting the South Side neighborhood's skill, excellence, and beauty.
This August, Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation converted the St. Laurence Elementary School into a new 40,000 sq foot arts hub on Chicago’s South Side. The formerly vacant elementary school in Chicago’s local St. Laurence neighborhood has been reimagined to redeem indoor and outdoor spaces, making it a cultural hub. Additionally, the National Museums Liverpool has recently revealed a revised version of the redevelopment of the city’s waterfront, led by architect Asif Khan and artist Theaster Gates. The proposal encompasses renovating the public areas within Canning Dock, a historically significant district situated at the heart of the Liverpool docks. Finally, the world-renowned artist is most famous for designing the 21st Serpentine Pavilion, Black Chapel.
