Theaster Gates: Unto Thee

Unto Thee is constructed around several core collections Gates acquired during his tenure at the University of Chicago—glass lantern slides, display vitrines from the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, paint-stained concrete, and wooden pews from Bond Chapel—all previously considered obsolete. In his installations at the Smart, Gates weaves these materials together with recent paintings, ceramics, film works, and furniture from the Johnson Publishing Company archive. The exhibition evokes Gates’s broader commitment: to cultivate things once discarded, activate memory through material, and connect art to South Side Chicago’s communities.