Theaster Gates makes no small plans for new U. of C. arts
incubator  Theaster Gates  Artist Theaster Gates, left, talks
with maintenance worker Harold Brown as they prepare the new
University of Chicago-sponsored Arts Incubator. (Michael
Tercha/Chicago Tribune / March 7, 2013)  Google the corner of
East Garfield Boulevard and South Prairie Avenue. Map it, zoom
in: If you're using Google Maps, you'll see an old picture of
the corner, a long marble building just west of Washington Park,
a former Walgreens, boarded-up, decaying, flanked by a fried
chicken stand and a former currency exchange.  Walk by right
now, and you will see something very different: The University
of Chicago's new Arts Incubator, polished, sleek and housed in
the same corner space, given a $1.85 million restoration by the
university and the stewardship of an art superstar, Chicago's
Theaster Gates.  The Arts Incubator, which opens Friday to the
public, is 10,000 square feet of studio, performance and gallery
space; there's a woodwork shop b