ART CITIES: London-Theaster Gates
Theaster Gates creates works that engage with space theory, land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, the artist redeems spaces that have been left behind. His work contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise, one defined by collective desire, artistic agency and the tactics of a pragmatist.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Serpentine Gallery Archive
The 21st Serpentine Pavilion, “Black Chapel” designed by Theaster Gates kickstarts a full season of creative and participatory events including experimental musical performances, sonic interventions, clay workshops, a panel discussion and a Japanese tea ceremony. Conceived as a space for gathering, meditation and participation, with an emphasis on sacred music, Black Chapel will become a platform for Serpentine’s live programme throughout the summer and beyond, offering reflection, connection and joy to the public. As the artist said “Since the time I was invited to consider a commission for Serpentine, Black Chapel has evolved several times. Initially, when I considered the volume of the chapel, I was preoccupied with the early architectural forms that would manifest themselves in the manufactured world. The kilns of Stoke-on-Trent, the beehive kilns of the Western United States, monumental spaces like San Pietro and the Roman tempiettos. Over time, the ideas around the chapel started to expand to include more spiritually dynamic and culturally specific spaces like the Musgum mud huts of Cameroon and the Kasubi tombs of Kampala, Uganda”. Responding to Gates’ multidisciplinary practice using space, architecture, sculpture and material, have been programmed live events in dialogue with Gates’ ambition to activate the Pavilion with artistic explorations of the monastic. Drawn to the transcendental environment of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, Gates has produced a series of new tar works especially for Black Chapel. Determined to create a space that reflects the artist’s hand and sensibilities, seven panels hang from the interior structure. In these works, Gates honours his father’s craft as a roofer and uses roofing strategies and torch down, which requires an open flame to heat the material and affix it to the surface. An operating bronze bell, salvaged from St. Laurence, a landmark Catholic Church that once stood in Chicago’s South Side, will stand next to the entrance of the Pavilion. Underscoring the erasure of spaces for convening and spiritual communion in urban communities, the historic bell will act as a call to assembly, congregation and contemplation throughout the summer’s events.
Highlights of the Programme include: Exploring sound and song through layered pianos, stripped-back beats and studio experimentation, The Vernon Spring, a solo adventure of composer and producer Sam Beste will play improvised and contemplative minimalist expressions. Each reflective reverberation will take advantage of the Pavilion acoustics while spotlighting the endless experimental possibilities of the sound of the piano. In July, audiences will also be able to listen to some of London’s most acclaimed ensemble singers from The Choir of London Oratory, the UK’s senior professional Catholic church choir. The 14-member choir is internationally renowned for its working repertoire covering music from the Latin Rite, Gregorian chant and the present day with a special emphasis on 16th- and 17th-century polyphony and the Mass repertory of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Keiko Uchida, a qualified Japanese tea ceremony master invites visitors to listen as she orates the history and philosophy of Japanese tea culture that initially developed as a Zen ritual in the 15th century as she performs the traditional meditative ritual while offering the audience a cup of matcha tea. In August, highlights will also include multi-award winning and 2020 Mercury Music Prize shortlisted British jazz drummer, composer, record producer, bandleader and radio host Moses Boyd, who will perform a selection of musical pieces, bringing his progressive Jazz sound to Serpentine. Hailed as one of the hottest talents of contemporary British Jazz, Boyd will take centre stage offering an experimental solo drum set inspired by his debut album, “Dark Matter”. In recognition of Gates’ investigation into the making, labour and production of sculpture throughout his artistic practice, South London based community pottery studio Mud Gang Pottery C.I.C will offer workshops to children, families and anyone interested in clay in September. Gates’ Serpentine Pavilion 2022 Black Chapel follows The Question of Clay, a multi-institution project featuring exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery (September 2021 – January 2022), White Cube (September – October 2021) and a two-year long research project at the V&A. The multidisciplinary programme of events will culminate in October with performances by two-times GRAMMY award-winning singer and songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, and The Black Monks, Gates’ ensemble of musicians and singers rooted in southern musical traditions and eastern monastic traditions. Serpentine’s Summer programme will also see the return of Park Nights, the interdisciplinary platform for live encounters in music, poetry and dance, running alongside activations by Serpentine Education and Civic. With further details announced soon, Park Nights 2022 will include performances by musician and composer Roscoe Mitchell. This performance is presented in partnership with the London Contemporary Music Festival and Wigmore Hall. Poet and musician Linton Kwesi Johnson, artist and filmmaker Josiane M.H. Pozi among other participants will also feature in the programme.
Photo: Theaster Gates, Black Chapel, Courtesy the artist and Serpentine Gallery Archive
Info: Serpentine South Gallery, Serpentine Pavilion, Kensington Gardens, London, United Kingdom, Duration: 10/6-16/10/2022, www.serpentinegalleries.org/
