Wide and Low Square Plate

Theaster Gates often describes himself as a potter. However, his practice extends far beyond shaping clay, to the molding of both the tangible (urban places, old archives) and the intangible (housing policy, African American culture and history). The furniture, ceramic-ware, and hand-written manifesto that comprise Soul Food Starter Kit help to anchor the breadth and conviviality of Gates’ practice in the gallery space.

For Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art (2012), Gates premiered Soul Pavilion at Dorchester Projects—the site and metaproject of Gates’s ongoing work in Chicago’s Grand Crossing neighborhood. He hosted a series of intimate Sunday dinners: ritual meals exploring the tastes and histories of soul food, while bringing people together across lines of race, class, and culture—to celebrate the power of a contemporary, hybrid complexity. Gates worked with chefs Erick Williams and Michael Kornick of Chicago’s MK Restaurant and soul food expert Erika Dudley to design the menu. Guests sat elbow to elbow along thin wooden tables, sampling offerings like the “black sacrament” (chitlins), served on dishes that Gates created with Japanese master potter Kouichi Ohara. Sermons by artists and friends of Dorchester Projects punctuated the meals, with music performed by members of the Black Monks of Mississippi. Intended to evolve over time, Soul Pavilion may lead to a new South Side soul food initiative—as it continues to inform the ongoing events at Dorchester Projects. The impact of Gates’ work with soul food strikes a balance between his roles as a host and a maker: between the aesthetic objects and the ephemeral event.