Prada presents China Cabinet, an exhibition project by artist Theaster Gates, with the support of Fondazione Prada. It will be on view from 11 March to 23 May 2021 at Prada Rong Zhai, a 1918 historic residence in Shanghai restored by Prada and reopened in October 2017.
Invited to reimagine the spaces of Prada Rong Zhai in an unprecedented way, Theaster Gates shows his ceramics body of work and reveals the link that exists between this activity as a ceramist and those as a visual artist, a performer, a professor, a urban planner and a community activist. For “China Cabinet”, Gates conceived a three-chapter story that unfolds in the rooms on the building’s first floor. Over the course of this narrative, the setting changes and the artist’s role evolves from guest to ghost to host. From being the object of an exhibition that examines the roots of his creative process, he becomes a subject who reveals the economic potential and the production context of his work. He then until assumes the role of a possible new host of Prada Rong Zhai.
Theaster Gates lives and works in Chicago, US. He creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance. Drawing on his interest and training in urban planning and preservation, Gates redeems spaces that have been left behind. Gates smartly upturns art values, land values, and human values. In all aspects of his work, he contends with the notion of Black space as a formal exercise – one defined by collective desire, artistic agency, and the tactics of a pragmatist.
Prada Rong Zhai
186 Shaanxi N Rd
Jing’an District
Shanghai, China
https://www.prada.com/be/fr/pradasphere/special-projects/2021/theaster-gates-china-cabinet-rong-zhai.html