ALASTAIR LAAS  

Taking Time


Flatland Projects
Bexhill, UK

The exhibition includes work by Vanessa Farinha, Sarah Gomes Harris, Alastair Laas, Richard Lockett, and Flo Wright, who participated in the De La Warr Pavilion x Flatland Projects Studio Development Programme. 

Alongside them Katalina Caliendo, RJ Fernandez, Joan Glasgow Ashton, and Tanvi Kant, who took part in the Common Clay x Working Class Creatives Database residency.

A group exhibition presented by Flatland Projects, Taking Time brings together nine artists working in dialogue across themes of language, memory, community, and the built environment. Responding to Bexhill-on-Sea as a site of practice and connection, the exhibition foregrounds time spent working, observing, and making within a shared local context.

The works reflect on ideas of home as a place of orientation, as somewhere to step back, consider one's surroundings, and recognise one's position in relation to others. Across the exhibition, space is understood not as a backdrop, but as something shaped through presence, care, and collaboration.

The exhibition also sits within a more extended institutional history. In 2020, Flatland Projects presented 'Gathering Container,' an exhibition by members of the former Hastings-based studio Common Clay. That project marked a formative moment for the organisation, bringing together a community of makers and establishing an ongoing commitment to material practice and collective dialogue. Five years on, Taking
Time reflects on how the organisation has developed while remaining rooted in its local relationships.

Partnership working underpins the exhibition's development. The works presented emerged from year-long studio and residency programmes delivered through a town-wide approach in Bexhill, supporting artists in developing sustainable practices in the local area.