Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates (he/him) is an artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. Trained in urban planning and within the tradition of Japanese ceramics, Gates's artistic philosophy is guided by the concepts of Shintoism, Buddhism, and Animism, most notably honoring the "spirit within things." Foundational to Gates's practice is his custodianship and critical redeployment of culturally significant Black objects, archives, and spaces.

Gates has exhibited and performed at LUMA Arles, France (2023 and 2024); The New Museum, New York, (2022); The Aichi Triennale, Tokoname (2022); The Serpentine Pavilion, London (2022); The Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2021); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2013 and 2021); Tate Liverpool (2019); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2019); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2018); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (2017); Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (2016); Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2016); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2016); Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy (2013); and dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012).

Gates is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the 2023 Isamu Noguchi Award, the 2023 National Building Museum Vincent Scully Prize, the 2021 Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts, a 2021 honorary fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the 2020 World Economic Forum Crystal Award, a 2018 J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, a 2018 Nasher Prize, a 2017 Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung Kurt Schwitters Prize, and a 2015 Artes Mundi 6 Prize.