Theaster Gates. Photo: Ugo Dalla Porta.
With this exhibition, visual artist, performer, urban planner and university professor, Theaster Gates, explores the link that exists between his work as a ceramist and a community activist. Gates’ lifetime of work focuses on space theory in relation to land development, sculpture and performance, with the aim of redeeming spaces that have been left behind. A defining characteristic of his work has been the way in which he lenses human-spatial interaction under a pragmatic eye.
Gates’ latest exhibition titled ‘China Cabinet’, has been made possible with the support of Fondazione Prada who have afforded him the Prada Rong Zhai space, based in Shanghai. The venue is a fitting location thanks to its historic lineage, having initially opened in 1918 before being restored and reopened by Prada in late 2017. While proceeding amongst the exhibition’s works, the setting perceptibly modulates the narrative of how the project is experienced. The viewer joins the narrative: evolving from first being a guest, then ghost, before finally becoming host.
[Left] A portion of the Team Lives in the Heavens, 2016. Photo: Delfino Sisto Legnani. Courtesy Fondazione Prada. [Right] Corpus, 2021. Photo: Bobby Rogers, Courtesy artist and Walker Art Center.
In the first chapter, objects are staged and motionless: exposed in vitrines of what appears to be a home-studio. Gates traces the thematic elements that characterise his practice as viewers encounter reused materials and idiosyncratic architectural construction techniques throughout. These include references to blending craftsmanship and spirituality, employing stereotypical imagery that has been imposed onto the African-American community and symbolic allusions to the civil rights movement.
For the second stage of ‘China Cabinet’, Gates adopts the role of interlocutor, opening a dialogue with the viewer, in an attempt to explain his relationship with ceramics. He specifies the complexity involved in compromising between the artform’s intellectual and haptic aspects. Such is the immersion of the project, for a moment, we feel like we are projected into an antique Chinese porcelain boutique.
The exhibition’s narrative culminates in the artist’s complete occupation of the Prada Rong Zhai space arranging the artworks in the manner of a private home. They now serve an ornamental purpose, welcoming its guests into the room whilst simultaneously completing the aforementioned narrative arc of the viewer, as you adopt the role of honorary host.
‘China Cabinet’ by Theaster Gates runs from 11 March through to 23 May 2021 at the Prada Rong Zhai.