For his first public project in the UK, Theaster Gates plans to transform a disused church in Bristol’s city centre into “a sanctuary for sound”. The work has been commissioned by Situations, a public art organisation, and has been funded by Arts Council England, which awarded a total of £745,000 to six arts projects taking place during Bristol’s year as the 2015 European Green Capital.
“We are looking at a number of different sites of historical importance, but Theaster is particularly interested in sound,” says Claire Doherty, the director of Situations. “We need to get scheduled monument consent [to use the church], so it may change.” The work is due to be unveiled this autumn.
Chicago-based Gates has previously repurposed religious and historic buildings. Gone Are the Days of Shelter and Martyr (2014), on show in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale (until 22 November), comprises a film and objects including a bronze church bell, slate roof tiles and a statue of a saint that Gates and his team salvaged from the now-demolished Roman Catholic Church of St Laurence in Chicago, which was built in 1911.
The artist and activist also plans to open a major cultural venue in a 1920s building, formerly a bank, on Chicago’s South Side during the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial in October.
