Hastings Contemporary

About

Hastings Contemporary champions modern and contemporary art. An ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions includes work by important Modern British artists, internationally celebrated artists, and emerging practitioners. Since opening (as Jerwood Gallery) nine years ago, the gallery has developed a reputation for its focus on painting and on Modern British art. The gallery sits among Hastings’s famous net huts, overlooking the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe.

Designed by HAT Projects, the building has won several architectural awards, including a RIBA National Award, a Civic Trust Award and a Sussex Heritage Trust Award, and reached the mid list for the Stirling Prize.

Current exhibitions

QUENTIN BLAKE: WE LIVE IN WORRYING TIMES
​​​​​Sir Quentin Blake returned to Hastings Contemporary on 27 May 2021 with a brand new series of drawings, Hand in Hand, added to exhibition We Live in Worrying Times.

SEASIDE MODERN: ART AND LIFE ON THE BEACH
Open until 31 October 2021
With staycations booming and forecasters predicting a surge in the popularity of traditional seaside resorts, curator James Russell takes a fresh look at the popularity of the British seaside in the first half of the 20th century.

Workers took advantage of their newly-gained holidays to flock to the coasts, and young sophisticates cast aside Victorian attitudes to nudity and donned fashionable beachwear. Through their own exploration of the landscapes and inhabitants of the seashore, artists established the British beach as an essential site of the development of Modern British art.

This lively exhibition will feature work by major modern British artists including Paul Nash, LS Lowry, Eileen Agar and Laura Knight, as well as advertising posters and archive photographs.

Gallery Café

Education Futures Trust is excited to be partnering with Hastings Contemporary to open ‘The Drift’, a community café encapsulating ‘the art of community’.

The Drift will provide a safe working environment for adults and young people who, with the support of Education Futures Trust staff, will learn new skills, gain valuable experience, and unlock their potential.

As part of a commitment to minimising food waste, The Drift will use FareShare products to provide daily specials.

This new and ground-breaking partnership will start small and gradually build to provide a full menu. To start with, gallery members and visitors will be able to choose from a menu including quality coffee, handmade cakes, and a range of savoury light bites.