English essay

Theaster Gates is an artist and an activist. He bring a lot of importance to recover, to keep cultural
archives to incite community to changes policy, social and urban. He noted di erent problems like
neglected or abandoned buildings in its neighborhood in Chicago. So, he started to transformed,
to reinvent, this type of buildings to create spaces, locations where people would feel inspired,
where they can express themself, where they can discuss or debate. A location where people
would feel « at home ».

To do this, he launched, in 2009, the Dorchester Projects which consist of the renovation of an
abandoned property. He used reused materials of the city of Chicago to create a library and a
kitchen. This project reunited people who lived in this neighborhood but also people from outside.
Thanks to this, the perception of this neighborhood has changed. It becomes attractive and also
become a meeting place.
Theaster wanted to renovated buildings while introducing di erent aspects like culture, creativity,
sociality. And that’s what he did by creating « The Listening House » or the « Black Cinema
House ». This 3 buildings shows that we can build or renovating something using this di erent
aspects and it contributes to revitalise, to enrich again this neighborhood who was abandoned.
So, according to Theaster, imagination, beauty and art have the power to save neighborhood. In
all the works he has done, we can nd the cause it defends, racism and segregation.

I think that its important to retain this 'human' aspect when we’re renovating or constructing a
building. We can't just build something without thinking about the people who are going to live in
it. Introducing aspects such as culture and entertainment goes some way towards bringing
buildings to life. It makes people want to visit these buildings, or simply want to live in them. It's
essential to revitalise these abandoned areas.
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