My thesis examines the work of contemporary artist Theaster Gates, focusing on how his practice addresses and manipulates diverse social, political, and artistic systems. Gates utilizes institutional patronage, government power, and the sale of his own artwork to transform abandoned properties throughout Chicago’s South Side into community spaces, archives, affordable housing complexes, micro-libraries, etc. Gates’s manufactured ecosystems of capital enable him to redistribute wealth to marginalized communities, connecting the South Side to resources and opportunity.

My thesis considers Gates within a larger art historical context, connecting his work to social practice artists and other systems-minded artists like Hans Haacke. By applying a systems-based approach to socially engaged artistic practice, Gates is able to channel institutional and market forces to redistribute resources to his South Side community through urban interventions that function as both artworks and as centers for education, habitation, and growth.