The Sacred is Everywhere

“I have eight sisters,” says Theaster Gates as he takes a seat, “so I’m always thinking of them.” We’re in a cylindrical chamber, and the artist is on the second of three brown sugar oatmeal-colored rows. A dramatic skylight pulls reminders of the harsh Abu Dhabi sun just above us into the cave-like space, and a gradient violet backdrop behind us contrasts the dark domestic carpet, forming a scene that is inconceivably beautiful in a language that only Prada can articulate. 

Indeed, the multidisciplinary artist and curator often brings his family and memories from their upbringing in Chicago into his artistic projects. For his 2022 New Museum retrospective “Young Lords and Their Traces,” Gates turned the New York museum’s second floor wall into a 50-foot-long expanse of acrylic paint on rubber torch down roofing, canvas, ink, and plastic an homage to his late father who worked as a roofer. His sculptural intervention with seven Leslie speakers and a Hammond B-3 Organ, A Heavenly Chord made that same year—and now on view at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo—celebrates his siblings and the ways Black music, specifically Black Gospel music, has influenced his life. 

In Abu Dhabi, though, where he’s imagined an ephemeral cultural exhibition for Prada this week, Gates has a different focus. “The idea that we could start an artistic work by paying attention to what’s present in front of you and what’s local—in terms of materials, what’s locally sourced; in terms of knowledge, what’s locally present is powerful,” he says, smartly dressed in a padded beige Prada coat and bright canary yellow trainers.

“We have an acknowledgement of our presence here, but we're also honoring of the place where we are.”
— Theaster Gates

Part member’s club, part pop-up program, Prada Mode is a globe-trotting arts and cultural program by the fashion house with a different expression each time. Last year, Carsten Höller resurrected his infamous The Double Club for Prada Mode at the Luna Luna amusement park in Los Angeles. In 2023, the two-day event happened in tandem with Frieze Seoul and curator Lee Sook-Kyung invited directors Kim Jee-Woon, Yeon Sang-ho, and Jeong Dahee to present their own unique visions of contemporary cinema. Now Gates, who performed with his band The Black Monks at the first Prada Mode in 2018 in Miami and then curated its third iteration in London in 2019 around Black identity and material culture, is focusing on purposeful interiority. 

“I wanted to see what I could learn from the UAE and honor the sacred,” says Gates, explaining how this year's seemingly simple architecture—a square and a circle—creates two physical realms to experience. The first, inherently rigid, establishes infrastructure and engagement. Bisected by translucent archive images and works from the artist’s archives, the square serves as both a reception and a cafe during the day and a space of procession and performance at night. Behind it, “the circle represents community, democracy, creativity, and the feminine,” Gates adds. It’s an inner sanctum where contemplation can occur; and a total experience the artist compares to finally accessing the inside of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque after passing through the several moments of chaos to do so.

Throughout the two days Prada Mode is open, members will flow between both spaces and enjoy panel conversations featuring Gates, UAE-based visual artists Zara Mahmood, Vikram Divecha, filmmaker Nujoom Alghanem, and more. Master practitioner of Al Sadu weaving Awatef Almesmari is leading a workshop on the traditional textile craft, and all-day performances include spoken word by Afra Atiq, live music by Egyptian violinist Nancy Mounir and a DJ set by Radio MiZa. Outside, with the Mina Zayed port in full view, Dubai-based Salam Dakkak brings the flavors of her Palestinian-Jordanian ancestry with a family style menu of flatbread musakhan rolls, crispy falafel with sesame, and an unexpected za’atar ice cream.

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“We have an acknowledgement of our presence here, but we're also honoring of the place where we are,” adds Gates, proudly looking up into the skylight above our heads. “On the Westside [of Chicago], you can’t drive a block without running into a storefront church. In Abu Dhabi, you can’t drive a mile without running into a really significant mosque. So the sacred is present in everyday life, and I’m happy we were able to bring some of that here.”