A Discussion with Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates lives and works in Chicago. He creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, Gates redeems spaces that have been left behind. Known for his recirculation of art-world capital, Gates creates work that focuses on the possibility of the “life within things.”

Gates will be in conversation with art historian, curator, and former director of the Kunstmuseum Basel Josef Helfenstein, who served as director of the Menil Collection and Foundation in Houston, before joining Kunstmuseum Basel. He has also worked at the Kunstmuseum Bern and has authored numerous exhibitions and publications, including Marc Chagall – The Breakthrough Years in Vitebsk and Paris (2017), Basel Short Stories. Von Erasmus bis Iris von Roten (2018), The Music of Color. Sam Gilliam 1967-1973 (2018) and Theaster Gates, Black Madonna (Kunstmuseum Basel, 2018).