Presented by White Cube

‘Ave Maria’ is a film by Theaster Gates which aims to broach the relationship of production and reproduction. In Gates’ words: “there are two parts. One is about a choir in Washington, D.C., singing ‘Ave Maria’ and the other is based on footage of the activation of a Heidelberg printing press that I purchased in Boswell, Indiana. I wanted to demonstrate how this choir, singing a song published 250 years ago on a piece of paper, and the press, as the vehicle for disseminating this idea of Mary, feel like they have this wonderful connection. The Heidelberg allowed these stories to be disseminated and then the choir allowed the story to continue having power. It’s not just the print or the material thing but also the choir doing this imaginary thing that makes us think about how beautiful Mary must be, because the song is so beautiful.”