This event is SOLD OUT. We will accept walk-ins after noon on the day of, if space allows. 

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The celebration continues on October 5, 2025 from noon to 2:00 pm, with a conversation between Theaster Gates, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, and Hamza Walker. The conversation will be held at The Land School (formerly St. Laurence Elementary School).

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Denise Ferreira da Silva is no longer able to join us for the conversation. The Smart is honored and grateful to host Sandra Jackson-Dumont as an addition to the speaker lineup!

RSVP is required. Registered spots will be held until the event's start at noon, when walk-ins will be welcomed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each opening weekend program requires separate registration.

Learn more and RSVP for the rest of the Theaster Gates: Unto Thee opening weekend. 

• Saturday, October 4
  4:00 - 7:00 pm, Theaster Gates: Unto Thee Opening Reception, at The Smart Museum of Art
• Sunday, October 5
  4:00 - 7:00 pm, The Black Monks Performance, at The University of Chicago’s Bond Chapel

   

Help keep the Smart and its important programming free and open to all by making a contribution today. Thank you for supporting cultural institutions like ours in Chicago!

About the speakers

Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates is an artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. Trained in urban planning and within the tradition of Japanese ceramics, Gates's artistic philosophy is guided by the concepts of Shintoism, Buddhism and Animism - most notably honoring the "spirit within things." Foundational to Gates's practice is his custodianship and critical redeployment of culturally significant Black objects, archives, and spaces. Known for his recirculation of art-world capital, 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. Through the expansiveness of his approach as a thinker, maker, and builder, Gates extends the life of disappearing and bygone histories, places, and cultural traditions.

Gates has exhibited and performed at the Albuquerque Foundation, Sintra, Portugal (2024); The LUMA Foundation, Arles, France (2023, 2024); The New Museum, New York, (2022); The Aichi Triennial, Tokoname (2022); The Serpentine Pavilion, London (2022); The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (2021); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013 and 2021); Tate Liverpool, UK (2020); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2020); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); Palais de Tokyo Paris, France (2019); Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2018); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (2017); Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (2016); Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2016); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2016); Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy (2013); and dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012).

Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and the College. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2025); Isamu Noguchi Award (2023); National Buildings Museum Vincent Scully Prize (2023); Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts (2022); an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2021); the World Economic Forum Crystal Award (2020); J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development (2018); Nasher Sculpture Prize (2018); Sprengel Museum Kurt Schwitters Prize (2017); and Artes Mundi 6 Prize.

PHOTO: Lyndon French

Sandra Jackson-Dumont

Sandra Jackson-Dumont is a curator, educator, and cultural strategist whose work critically reimagines the role of art museums in contemporary society. Recently appointed a Getty Research Institute Presidential Scholar, she brings a rigorous, interdisciplinary approach to questions of the canon, public engagement, and institutional transformation. Her current research explores cultural spaces as catalysts for social cohesion, free expression, and collective well-being.

Her career spans leadership roles at several of the United States’ most prominent cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Seattle Art Museum. Across contexts, Jackson-Dumont has cultivated collaborations with contemporary artists, communities, and historical collections, foregrounding programs that challenge conventional museological frameworks and epistemologies.

Her practice is distinguished by a commitment to equity, innovation, and relevance—principles that resonate with global debates on the future of cultural institutions. Through writing, lectures, and advisory engagements, Jackson-Dumont continues to shape international discourses on museum reform, offering critical insights for institutions seeking to foster inclusive, reflexive, and socially responsive cultural spaces.

Hamza Walker

Hamza Walker is the director of The Brick (formerly LAXART) a non-profit alternative art space in Los Angeles. Walker has been chasing the same high for over three decades. Ever since seeing avant-garde concerts and performances in late 80s Chicago, he has felt compelled to share a boundless curiosity about art.  In the ensuing years, Walker has curated dozens of exhibitions ranging from solo to thematic exhibitions; from the production of new work to career surveys. Recent exhibitions at The Brick include Elizabeth Paige Smith: Unshade Me Of You and Gregg Bordowitz: This Is Not A Love Song both from 2025.