
Working the Public, with Theaster Gates
ADMISSION:
Admission is free. Reservations required. RSVP beginning Thursday, January 4, at 9 a.m.
USC Students, Staff, and Faculty: RSVP
USC Alumni: RSVP
General Public: RSVP
DESCRIPTION:
Join us for a dynamic conversation with Theaster Gates, one of the most important public artists of our time. As the founder of the Rebuild Foundation, a non-profit platform for art, cultural development, and neighborhood transformation, Gates is redefining the way we think about visual art and its potential to change the world. He collaborates with communities and large institutions to create spaces such as Chicago’s Arts Incubator and Dorchester Projects, which transformed underutilized buildings into cultural centers. Gates’s artistic practice spans media, including ceramics, installations, and performance; political interventions; and the founding of organizations. He will participate in a conversation with Naima J. Keith, the deputy director of exhibitions and programs at the California African American Museum (CAAM). At CAAM, Keith curated Hank Willis Thomas: Smell the Roses (2016) and Kenyatta Hinkle: The Evanesced (2017). She was previously an associate curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem and curatorial fellow at the Hammer Museum. In 2017, Keith received the David C. Driskell Prize in recognition of her contributions to the field of African American Art History.
Additional Links:
Theaster Gates The Guardian profile, Q&A with The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times profile, New Yorker feature, Wikipedia
Naima J. Keith Instagram
Presented by USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative. Organized by Amelia Jones, Karen Koblitz, and the USC Roski School of Art and Design. Co-sponsored by the California African American Museum.
Image: Installation view of Theaster Gates, But To Be A Poor Race, 2017.
Photo: Brian Forrest, Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles