News

The College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts is pleased to announce that Theaster Gates, Artist and Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago, will be the 2014 commencement speaker. Students, their families and friends, as well as college faculty and staff, will gather on the evening of May 10th at the UIC Pavilion to recognize and celebrate the class of 2014. Artist and innovator in the field of social practice, Theaster Gates combines strategies of urban planning, object making and performance. Gates is internationally recognized for his work on the South Side of Chicago, including Dorchester Projects, Black Cinema House, and the upcoming Stony Island Arts Bank and Dorchester Artists Housing Collaborative. Founder of the non-profit Rebuild Foundation, Gates’ work both in museums and in communities responds creatively to the challenges of space. In 2013, Gates opened the Arts Incubator in Washington Park, a vision he developed as Director of Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago. The renovated building is now home to artist residencies, a design apprenticeship program, exhibitions, performances and talks. The Arts Incubator has received awards including the Urban Land Institute Chicago Vision Award for Programming, Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Strategy of the Year Award, and the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Community Impact Award. Gates has exhibited and performed at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Punta della Dogana, Venice; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; and Documenta 13, Kassel, Germany; among others. Gates has received awards and grants from Creative Time, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, United States Artists, Creative Capital, the Joyce Foundation, Graham Foundation, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and Artadia.