How to Build the house?
Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates takes over the fifth floor of the AGO’s Contemporary Tower with an immersive exhibition exploring the potential of the house museum—historically important landmarks that have been transformed into legacy sites. Gates proposes new ways of honouring and remembering Black experience and explores the potential of these spaces through music, dance, video, sculpture and painting. Organized as a world of symbolic structures and their associated objects, the exhibition is dedicated to Black luminaries including George Black, Frankie Knuckles and Muddy Waters. How to Build a House Museum invites visitors to tour the house museum in its many possible forms: as an architectural monument, historical representation, or site of freedom.
Curated by Kitty Scott, the AGO’s Carol and Morton Rapp Curator, Modern & Contemporary Art, this exhibition marks Gates' first major solo exhibition in Canada, and reflects the AGO’s ongoing engagement with contemporary art and commitment to working with living artists.
Join dancers Jasmyn Fyffe, Kosi Eze, Esie Mensah, and Diana Reyes in the exhibition Wednesdays from 6:30-8:30pm, Saturdays from 2-4pm and Thursdays in August from 2-4 pm, Fridays in September from 6:30-8:30 pm and Sundays in October from 2-4 pm.
