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| Theaster Gates at the Dorchester Project, Chicago 2012. Photo via theartnewspaper.com. |
Theaster Gates: A Way of Working
Forum, Lecture, and Gallery
Presentation at the New School
Wednesday,
September 18th, 10am–2:30pm
Thursday,
September 19th, 10am–12pm
The New
School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
55 West 13th
Street, 2nd Floor, New York
Wednesday,
September 18th, 7pm
The New
School, Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th
Street, New York
Wednesday,
September 18th–October 5th, 2013
Opening: September
18th, 5–6:30pm
The Arnold
and Sheila Aronson Galleries
Sheila C.
Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design
66 Fifth
Avenue, New York
Hours: Daily noon–6pm,
Thursdays noon–8pm
In tribute
to Theaster Gates, recipient of the inaugural Vera List Center Prize for Art
and Politics, the Vera List
Center for Art and Politics presents a conference, artist
lecture and a gallery installation collectively entitled Theaster
Gates: A Way of Working.
These
programs are the culmination of The New School's 18-month engagement with the
artist and his work, and takes place alongside numerous courses across the
university. Theaster Gates: A Way of Working offers a view
into how the artist develops synergies within his far-reaching work, and
examines the complex ways of creating and maintaining an expanded studio
practice rooted in institutional engagement, object making, and the production
of space. Gates is globally renowned for his genre-defying explorations of
community, history, race, and politics.
The two-day public
forum (September 18–19) explores Gates' prize-winning Dorchester
Projects and issues arising from the work such as migration,
belief and ecologies of organizing. Voices from fields such as art, urban
policy, economics, jazz, political science, and religious studies from The New
School and beyond illuminate the multifaceted and ongoing project, and
ultimately call for new notions of social justice brought about by aesthetic
practices. Speakers include Jane Bennett (Johns Hopkins)
and Shannon Jackson (UC Berkeley) as well as The New School
faculty members Katayoun Chamany, Andrea Geyer, Richard
Harper, Lydia Matthews, Jasmine Rault, Radhika
Subramaniam, and others.
Dedicated to
the artist's prize-winning work Dorchester Projects, the conference
is anchored by a lecture by Theaster
Gates and the presentation of the award, designed by Yoko Ono,
on September 18 at 7pm. It is preceded by the opening celebration of the
gallery installation at the Sheila C.
Johnson Design Center (SJDC) at Parsons The New School for
Design from 5–6:30pm.
The gallery
presentation of Theaster
Gates: A Way of Working, organized to accompany the forum
and spark ongoing conversation, includes excerpts of works and project series
from Gates' studio. Rather than explore the chronological development of Gates'
work, the presentation focuses on the uniquely non-linear nature of his methods
of working, thinking, and creating. Project elements include a rickshaw
inspired by recent visits to Haiti and Mexico; drawings and studies; videos; and
a large-scale organizational chart mapping elements of the artist's way of
working.
Launched to
celebrate the VLC's 20th anniversary, the Vera List
Center Prize for Art and Politics honors an artist or group of
artists who engage political themes and take personal risks to advance social
justice in profound and visionary ways. International in scope, the biennial
prize is awarded for a particular project's long-term impact, boldness, and
artistic excellence. Following an extensive research and evaluation process
that enlisted the advice of a jury and a nominator's council of leading
artists, art historians, and curators worldwide, Theaster Gates was named
inaugural recipient of the prize for his Dorchester Projects. More
than a single moment of recognition, the prize represents a long-term
commitment to the question of how the arts advance social justice, how we speak
of, evaluate, and teach such work.
Admission to all events is free.
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