Hastings Contemporary


The Hastings Contemporary is a museum of contemporary British art located on The Stade in Hastings, East Sussex and is a not for profit organisation. The gallery opened in March 2012 as the Jerwood Gallery and cost £4m to build. The gallery contains both temporary exhibitions and a permanent collection that includes work from artists including: L. S. Lowry, Augustus John, Stanley Spencer, Walter Sickert, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Caulfield, Maggi Hambling, Craigie Aitchison and Prunella Clough.

Architecture

The building was designed by Hana Loftus and Tom Grieve from the architecture firm HAT Projects. The outside of the gallery building is covered with over 8,000 black tiles that were glazed in Kent. In The Observer, the architecture critic Rowan Moore says that the Jerwood building "is not embarrassed by the stuff and clobber around it, and does not embarrass them". Moore concludes that the building is "a simple and straightforward place for viewing art".
Wallpaper described the gallery as "a perfectly formed, modest space, that doesn't try too hard".
The building was given a National Award in 2013 by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Exhibitions

The following artists have had exhibitions at Jerwood Gallery:
The gallery has also been a venue for an exhibition of art works from the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2012.

Controversy and opposition

The building of the gallery led to protests from local residents fearing that it would lead to gentrification of the surrounding area. In 2008, the Hastings Bonfire Society burned a model of the gallery in effigy. Keith Leech from the bonfire society said that the gallery represented "a long string of things that people are trying to foist upon us".
As the gallery replaced a coach park, opponents of the development believed it would reduce the amount of business from coach trip parties, while others believe it should have been located elsewhere in the town. Posters and banners opposing the development have been displayed nearby. Local residents pay a reduced rate to enter the gallery, and on the first Tuesday of every month the gallery is free to all between the hours of 4pm - 8pm.

Renaming

In Summer 2019 the Jerwood Gallery cut ties with the Jerwood Foundation amid a funding dispute. As part of its separation, the gallery rebranded to be called Hastings Contemporary, though will remain in the building owned by the Jerwood Foundation.
To relaunch the rebranded gallery, it received a £100,000 per year grant from Arts Council England.