“It’s not really about the material,” says Theaster Gates. “It’s about our ability to shape things.” Gates works across a range of media—installations, drawings, paintings, ceramics—and calls himself a “keeper of objects.” He preserves their histories, especially Black histories often glossed over by academia. For this exhibition, Gates has gathered charged remnants from the University of Chicago that might otherwise have been discarded: wooden pews from Bond Chapel, concrete from the floor of Midway Studios, display vitrines from the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. They are then reimagined as installations. —Elena Clavarino