Tate Liverpool is opening its latest exhibition today, featuring the work of social practice installation artist, Theaster Gates.
Described as “one of the world’s most influential living artists”, the artist’s first major UK exhibition, Amalgam, explores issues of race, territory, and inequality in the United States, or, more specifically, the small island of Malaga to the north of Maine. Gates was born in and grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where he still currently both works and resides.
Gates, who studied urban planning in his youth, is best known for his work in South Side, Chicago, where in 2009 he started the Dorchester Project, an ongoing project that includes Gates renovating abandoned and disused buildings into places fit for community use. He often blends film, dance, music, and sculpture, a theme which is continued in Amalgam.
Also on show is a new film Dance of Malaga 2019, which features the choreography of acclaimed American dancer, Kyle Abraham.
“Gates’s musical collective, The Black Monks, provides the film’s score. Their blues and gospel-inspired sound can be heard throughout the exhibition.
To celebrate the opening of Gates’ exhibition, in partnership with Dazed, Tate Liverpool is having a free exhibition party tonight, between 6 and 8.30pm, where there will be the opportunity to see the artwork first, as well as a drink on arrival.
Amalgam is on show now, until May 3, 2020