Scrap Wood as Social Work
by Blake Gopnik, The Daily Beast, June 10th, 2012
With just minutes left in my visit to the great Documenta art festival, in Kassel, Germany, I discovered my favorite work: an abandoned old house repurposed and reinhabited by Theaster Gates and a crew from Chicago, with help from locals. They furnished various bedrooms with stylish beds and tables and wardrobes, all made from found scrap. (It was some of the best design work I've seen --like Martino Gamper's deluxe DIY, only done out of necessity.) Other rooms were rehabbed as video lounges or performance spaces.
Related Artists: Theaster Gates