Theaster Gates revives the long abandoned Stony Island Trust & Savings Bank building with love. Located between Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing and South Shore neighborhoods at East 68th Street and South Stony Island Avenue, the dilapidated structure was purchased for a buck. Headed for demolition, Gates, a native of Chicago who is a an installation artist and social activist, couldn’t fathom the idea that this “symbol of the middle class and the Great Migration of the African American community that grew in these neighborhoods” would be leveled and forgotten. He purchased the building from the City of Chicago in 2012.
In his wisdom, Gates, 42, had a spectacular vision that parallels with the Chicago’s cultural renaissance and hope for the children, who likely trekked the halls of this building when it offered no safety or security from harm and danger. Instead, this library, media archive, art gallery and cultural center offers planned activities. It’s like Christmas time for the community.
On Saturday, October 3, the opening day of the first Chicago Architecture Biennial, enthusiasts were afforded entry into the 17,000 square foot structure and treated to an archive.
Gates is like the city’s urban redevelopment movement’s Santa Claus. The restoration was bigger than a comparable rejuvenation. Not because it was estimated in the millions, but because it provides a home for the libraries of the Johnson Publishing Archive, featuring magazines like Jet and Ebony; the vinyl collection of Chicagoan house d.j. Frankie Knuckles; and Edward J. and Ana J. Williams’ collection of “negrobilia.”
These cultural toys have been given a new life, it’s a salute to Johnson, Knuckles, the Williamses and even the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of the Chicago. This creative class has been reclaimed.
This Gates’ accomplishment – revitalizing a hub for cultural exchange, artistic expression and hope that leads to community growth – serves as a model for cities nationwide.
