The Stony Island Arts Bank reopens Friday, June 5, exhibiting work by Theaster Gates, the Johnson Publishing Library archives and food and drink during regular operating hours.
Theaster Gates and Heiji Choy Black partner to extend the institution’s radical vision with two new hospitality concepts: Han Cha, a first-of-its-kind Korean-inspired high-tea salon, and Yunomi, a reimagination of the bar program centered on the yunomi, or handleless daily cup, in Japanese ceramics vernacular.
Designed by William Gibbons Uffendell and built in 1923, the bank at 68th and Stony Island was once a vibrant community savings and loan. Theaster Gates acquired the building in 2012 and reopened it in 2015 — one of his most notable land art projects, now a 17,000 square foot home for exhibitions, free artistic programming, residencies, and radical archival stewardship of undercared-for Black cultural objects. Read the building's history →
On the second floor, the Johnson Publishing Library — donated by the publisher of Ebony and Jet — sits alongside more than 60,000 glass lantern slides of art and architectural history from the University of Chicago. The collections are open to visitors and form the intellectual backbone of the work on the ground floor.
Han Cha is a Korean-inspired high tea salon serving a two-hour prix fixe menu that fuses East Asian teahouse craftsmanship with the format of English high tea. Yunomi, the walk-in bar and lounge next door, takes its name from the handleless Japanese teacup — and serves cocktails built around locally sourced spirits from Chicago's Judson & Moore, natural wines, and beer from Half Acre Beer Co. Explore Han Cha and Yunomi →
6760 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago
Thu–Sat 12pm–8pm · Sun 12pm–6pm