A historic 1923 bank on Chicago's South Side, restored as a permanent exhibition space for Theaster Gates' work and the archives in his care.
Designed by William Gibbons Uffendell and built in 1923, the bank at 68th and Stony Island was once a vibrant community savings and loan. By the eighties, the branch had closed and the building remained vacant and deteriorating for decades.
In 2015, the building was radically restored and reopened by Theaster Gates. Today, Stony Island Arts Bank provides the South Side of Chicago with 17,000 square feet of space for innovation in contemporary art and archival practice.
One of the most monumental archival collections gifted to Theaster Gates is the Johnson Publishing Company Library, housed on the second floor — a collection of books and periodicals donated by the Johnson Publishing Company (JPC), publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines.
The collection includes JPC publications from the 1940s to the present day, alongside the in-house library once used by JPC editors and writers.
This spring, Stony Island Arts Bank relaunches as a permanent exhibition space for Theaster Gates' work, alongside friends and collaborators. In partnership with Heiji Black, two hospitality spaces invite guests to engage with the work in sensory ways — over a cup of tea, or a cocktail at the bar.