A new project by U.S. artist and urban planner Theaster Gates (Chicago, 1973), who is known for his artistic practice that blends urban planning, architecture, art, craftsmanship, and social focus and that often centers on urban renewal projects. Indeed, on September 14, 2025, The Land School, the new project of the Rebuild Foundation, the nonprofit organization led by Gates, opened in Chicago. It is located inside the former St. Laurence Catholic Elementary School, a historic, nearly 4,000-square-foot building that remained unused for more than a decade after it closed in 2002. The redevelopment of this facility represents the most recent piece of a journey that began fifteen years ago, when Gates founded Rebuild with the goal of transforming abandoned spaces on Chicago’s South Side into places of cultural production, memory and artistic experimentation.
The Land School is conceived as a radical model of land and community care, combining artistic excellence, creative experimentation and archival practices. Gates, who has an academic background in urban planning, envisions the school as a place where time, space, and resources are made available to artists, thinkers, and organizations that want to develop cultural projects with a strong public value. The mission is to make culture an accessible and transformative service, capable of restoring meaning and centrality to spaces that were in danger of being erased.
The acquisition of the building, which cost about half a million dollars, allowed it to be saved from demolition and began a seven-year restoration project, for a total investment of twelve million dollars. What made it possible was the support of numerous institutional and private partners: funders include major corporations and foundations such as Ford, MacArthur, Mellon, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Wallace Foundation, as well as the City of Chicago’s contribution through the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. Companies such as American Airlines, Knoll, Clayco Foundation and Prada Group have also lent their support, along with a wide range of philanthropic and community entities.
The renovation work preserved the original architectural elements, including historic masonry, stucco and brickwork, restoring an iconic structure to the neighborhood that combines memory and innovation.
According to Gates, The Land School represents “a radical stage in our journey,” a moment when the organization can finally say it has the tools and space to fully develop its vision. He emphasizes how the project is the result of an enduring and iterative approach, which over the past two decades has demonstrated how the challenges and opportunities encountered in urban regeneration can become authentic pedagogical tools. In this perspective, the school is intended to be not just a physical place, but a laboratory of social and cultural imagination.
One of the pivotal elements will be the sharing of practices developed by Rebuild over two decades of work: from the valorization of abandoned lands to archival strategies and the redefinition of the concept of radical hospitality. Through The Land School, Gates and his organization intend to show how art can become a tool for addressing stories of dispossession and marginalization, transforming them into opportunities for community self-determination.
The school’s opening coincides with the 15th anniversary of Rebuild’s founding and is part of an ecosystem of projects that have already redefined the identity of the South Side. These include the Stony Island Arts Bank, the Black Cinema House, and community gardens that have revitalized disused lots.
The Land School thus becomes a symbol of an approach to art that is not limited to aesthetic production, but rooted in the urban and social life of the community. Through the regeneration of a long-forgotten space, Gates and Rebuild Foundation show how cultural investment can generate new forms of citizenship and belonging, valuing stories and memories that are often overlooked.
The challenge that opens with the opening is to transform a building saved from demolition into a vital center for contemporary cultural production, capable of connecting past and future, memory and innovation. With The Land School, Chicago is enriched with a new landmark for art and community, destined to have a profound impact on the cultural landscape of the city and beyond.
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| When art is social practice: The Land School, a center led by Theaster Gates, opens in Chicago |
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