Written by Krystal Rodriguez — The house legend’s legacy lives on.
As a mural tribute to Frankie Knuckles is currently in the process of being painted over, someone else has found a way to ensure the late house legend’s legacy lives on.
A Bronx-bred Chicago transplant, Knuckles is considered a pioneer of house music due to his role in developing the genre in the 1980s; its namesake comes from the venue in which he DJed, Warehouse. Last year, he passed away unexpectedly at the age of 59.
As Art News reports, his prized record collection will be put on display in his adopted hometown’s new arts center, the Stony Island Arts Bank, thanks to local artist Theaster Gates. The establishment, originally an old bank built in 1923, was due to be demolished by the city until Gates bought it and converted it into an art space.
Scheduled to open to the public on October 3, it will serve as a “hybrid gallery, media archive and library, and community center” with a focus on African American culture, according to Gates. In addition to the vinyl collection, the space will house 60,000 lantern slides from local universities; the archives of Johnson Publishing, home to publications such as Jet and Ebony; and a collection of racist objects Gates refers to as “negrobilia.”
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