Theaster Gates

Debuted at Fondazione Prada, The Flood (2023) was conceived as part of the exhibition Everybody Talks about the Weather. Showcasing over 50 works, the exhibition explores weather in visual art, taking environmental conditions as a premise to shed light on the urgency of the climate crisis. The newest film by Gates interweaves performances by Gates’ ensemble The Black Monks, the Uniting Voices Chicago youth choir, and members of the Thompson Community Singers with scientific commentary on evidence of the Great Biblical flood and the possibility of impending mass geological extinction.

The apocalypse is not coming, it has already happened. At least that’s what the Old Testament says. Theaster Gates' film The Flood interweaves the hybrid monastic sounds of his ensemble The Black Monks, Uniting Voices Chicago youth choir, and members of the celebrated gospel choir the Thompson Community Singers with scientific commentaries from global climate historians Professor Carlo Barbante and Professor Neil Shubin that aim to debate whether a natural disaster with the power for mass extinction – like the Flood, as described in the Bible – has occurred or will occur on Earth.