A Dilapidated Bank Turned Stunning Cultural Center Opens in Chicago’s South Side (bought for $1)
Theaster Gates is an artist, urban planner, and professor and director at the University of Chicago’s Arts and Public Life who believes in a culturally driven approach to urban redevelopment. Gates’ Rebuild Foundation has transformed vacant houses and former housing projects into cultural and arts spaces on Chicago’s South Side. His latest and most ambitious project opened to the public on Saturday as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
The Stony Island Arts Bank is a gorgeously renovated 17,000-square-foot former bank at 68th Street and Stony Island Avenue on Chicago’s South Side that has been transformed into a contemporary art gallery, media archive, library, and community center that will host exhibitions and artist and scholar residencies.
In a press release, Gates described the project as “an institution of and for the South Side,” “a repository for African American culture and history, a laboratory for the next generation of black artists,” and “a space for neighborhood residents to preserve, access, reimagine and share their heritage, as well as a destination for artists, scholars, curators, and collectors to research and engage with South Side history.”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/10/06/stony_island_arts_bank_is_theaster_gates_and_rebuild_foundation_s_stunning.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
