DOUGLAS — Artist Theaster Gates said he’s received the gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland and is now thinking about what to do with it.
Gates said Monday that his Rebuild Foundation on Monday received the gazebo where Rice was shot by police in 2014 while playing with a pellet gun, but will put it into storage for the time being.
He said the physical structure needs work and he needs time to think and talk to the community and partners at the Illinois Humanities Council about how to best display the artifact that has become a symbol of the fractured relationship between African American communities and police.
Rice’s family originally wanted the gazebo destroyed, but slowly changed their minds and agreed with the city of Cleveland to give it to Gates and erect a memorial in the park instead.
“We got the gazebo because we’re a repository for black culture,” Gates said.
Gates said it could be displayed at the Stony Island Arts Bank, but he wasn’t sure yet when or how it would be used.
Earlier this month, four foundations agreed to fund $10.25 million in restoration projects lead by Gates aimed at converting dilapidated buildings mostly on the South Side into arts spaces. So Gates now has many options for how to include the artifact as a core part of at least four projects currently in development.
Gates said he was sure it would not be used in the newest project announced Monday, which included plans to convert the former Prairie District police station at 29th Street and Prairie Avenue into an arts center.
He said he does want the gazebo to play a part in conversations about policing in African American communities, but doesn’t want to impose those issues on his first project in Bronzeville unless the community and the artists working there are asking for it.
Other projects Gates is currently developing include a series of gardens and a maker space in a former Catholic School in Grand Crossing and an industrial arts center in a former power station in Garfield Park.
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