Sam Gilliam Lecture Series: Theaster Gates

Gates' practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. Trained in urban planning and ceramics, his practice has modeled the importance of radical custodianship and critical redeployment of culturally significant Black craft, objects, archives, and spaces.

Gates is the founder and executive director of , a non-profit artistic project invested in land, archives, and creative practice as tools for building self-determined, spatial futures on Chicago’s South Side.

Through the expansiveness of his approach as a thinker, maker, and builder, Gates resurrects, exalts, and extends the life of disappearing and bygone histories, places, traditions, and personal heroes.

In recognition of the mission of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center—to connect research and discovery with policymaking— will provide a platform for speakers to engage in conversation with faculty experts, students, and the community about the role of art in addressing critical social issues.

Made possible by the Sam Gilliam Foundation, series was established to honor the artistic legacy and social justice commitments of the late Washington, D.C.-based artist Sam Gilliam. The series will welcome prominent artists and thinkers to the university’s Washington, D.C. hub to reflect on the intersections between contemporary art, academia, and public policy, and the role art plays in advancing society.

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