Theaster Gates

Chawan Cabinet, an exhibition by artist Theaster Gates, is now open at Prada Home in Milan. The exhibition features a collection of editioned ceramic vessels and ceremonial forms: objects that aid our gathering, our call to ritual, and to be held, handled, and honored through time, rather than merely witnessed.

At the heart of the project is the chawan, the tea bowl central to Japanese tea culture. More than a functional object, it embodies a gesture: an invitation to engage with its form and surface in a deliberate, attentive, and honorific way. The chawan is an expression of hospitality, an offering that conveys care, respect, and presence. Alongside the chawan, other ceramic forms extend this vocabulary of use and relation.

Shifting the emphasis from possession to experience, from display to use, from object to relationship, Chawan Cabinet ultimately speaks to a broader reflection: on how we live, how we come together, and how through form, repetition, and experimentation, even the most human gestures and simple vessels can acquire depth, meaning, and presence.