The former Retreat at Currency Exchange Cafe in Washington Park softly reopened this month as an experimental spatial activation. Now billed as A Listening Space at 305 E. Garfield, the space is open to the public to come in and enjoy music through an extensive record collection.
Rebuild Foundation manages and leases out the building, which is owned by the University of Chicago through its Arts + Public Life initiative. Theaster Gates, a world-renowned installation artist from Chicago’s West Side, is the founder and executive director of Rebuild, a nonprofit arts organization that works to repurpose spaces on the South Side to celebrate art. Gates also is the founding director of UChicago’s Arts + Public Life and a professor in the school’s Department of Visual Arts.
“We first opened as the Currency Exchange Cafe and that was a beautiful project, and we were really excited and proud of what we were able to achieve in that space,” said Sabina Bokhari, director of communications and special projects for the Rebuild Foundation. “And then we were also proud to usher in a new chapter for that space with [A Listening Space].”
Retreat at Currency Exchange Cafe, which opened on the school’s Arts Block at 305 E. Garfield Blvd. in 2020, closed its doors in 2023. According to Bokhari, the space was closed as Rebuild is focused on using its spaces “in varying ways to demonstrate the cultural value of a place.”
The cafe was a beloved space hosting small businesses, happy hours and various events. The spot was ignited as a place for creatives to build on the South Side; restaurants such as Monday Coffee Co. had short residences there.
Felton Kizer, co-founder of Monday Coffee Co. said the residency at the Currency Exchange Cafe was the “kickstarter” of the company getting other opportunities to provide full service to the public.
“That was the first time I flirted with the idea of opening a physical space,” he said. “Being in this cafe within a space that also existed and functioned as something else, it was also just really cool.”
Such businesses have gone on to open their own brick-and-mortar, Bokhari said, showing the impact that the Currency Exchange Cafe has on the small business community. For example, Monday Coffee Co. recently opened its first permanent location in North Lawndale late last year.
“Our programs will always carry the soul of Retreat,” Bokhari said about the reimagining of the space and how it acts as a revolving door for new ideas. “Think about what could be next. Think about what the future of Rebuild is in this space,” she continued.
A Listening Space’s experimental project spotlights “The Dinh Collection,” an archive of records collected by the late French-Vietnamese DJ Dinh Nguyen. The space is free to enjoy in what Rebuild described as a place to be “present” with one another and with the music.
Visitors are presented with free selections of water and tea. Food isn’t being sold in the space but could in the future, according to Ellison Park, who currently works the space and is Gates’ personal chef. The space is currently open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. No timeline was given for the duration of the listening space activation.
The opening of the new activation on the university’s Arts Block along Garfield Boulevard comes before the reopening of the Stony Island Arts Bank at 6760 S .Stony Island Ave, which shut its doors temporarily in January. It will reopen in February. According to Bokhari, the foundation — which owns the Arts Bank — closes it every January to plan for the year ahead.
“This winter hiatus is an annual moment where we’re able to really reflect on everything that we’ve accomplished in the year prior and really be strategic and thoughtful about our offerings in the year ahead,” Bohkari said.
The Stony Island Arts Bank, which is currently showcasing archives from the Johnson Publishing Company, will be open 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursdays, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Fridays, and Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. until the exhibit closes on March 15. No details were given about future exhibits.The building is open to Rebuild’s partner organizations for other events and programming throughout the year.
Bokhari added that this year’s reflection was especially important due to the St. Laurence Arts Incubator, which will be launching soon at 1353 E. 72nd St. in Grand Crossing.
Earlier this month, Rebuild Foundation announced on social media that it was nearly done with the “general construction” of the St. Laurence Arts Incubator Initially announced in 2023, the project was approved by City Council to receive a $2.5 million Neighborhood Opportunity Fund from the city to transform the once-Catholic school into an incubator.

Gates said the space will serve “as a central hub of artistic practice, pedagogy, critique, archival innovation, and craft excellency.”
“With space for artist studios, offices for mission-aligned creative organizations, curricular opportunities, commissions, access to our archives, public programming, craft training, and platforms for experimentation and innovation in the production of new work, St. Laurence will be an iterative and rigorous artistic project,” Gates wrote in an email to The TRiiBE.
First projected to cost $10.35 million, the project costs have grown to over $12 million, according to Gates. The project is fully funded through the Rebuild Foundation. In its Instagram post, Rebuild said the next steps of designing the space were “months away.”
Gates said that the next two years would involve the foundation “experimenting with the varying spaces to help determine their best and most interesting uses.” No date for the finalization of the St. Laurence Arts Incubator has been given but parts of the building will be accessible as they become ready.
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