TANK Shanghai

TANK Shanghai presents Bad Neon, a solo exhibition of Theaster Gates’s recent work, from March 19 to August 29, 2021. Transforming the structure of the exhibition space into a roller skating rink, Gates recreates a 1980s disco, inviting visitors to experience the installation on roller skates. The project, 3 years in the making, aims to formulate an exhibition with a more open and diverse structure; a conduit for fostering new networks through the experience of skating, neon lights and music. The works exhibited draw on two important but distinct reference points for Gates: the minimal, abstract work of artist Agnes Martin and the research and statistics of African Americans, compiled by sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W.E.B Du Bois. At the centre of the skating rink, two new sculptures act as DJ booths for an invited selection of musicians and artists during the run of the show.