Untitled, 1956
with
Flat Time House, London

10 March–9 April 2022
Roberts Institute of Art

Untitled, 1956 is the first of an ambitious trilogy of exhibitions produced in collaboration with Flat Time House (FTHo).

Each exhibition explores a different facet of the complex network of ideas and relationships surrounding John Latham’s work in dialogue with important works from the David and Indrė Roberts Collection.

This first exhibition brings together a key early piece by Latham, Untitled, 1956, with impressive works by Phyllida Barlow, Bram Bogart and Antoni Tàpies, which share with Latham an intuitive investigation into material quality, presented alongside a new commission by Grace Ndiritu.

Open Thursday–Saturday, 12–6pm. Flat Time House is located in Peckham, South East London.

Roberts Institute of Art

Alongside the three exhibitions, each taking its name from the key Latham work they contain, FTHo and RIA have commissioned an artist to produce a new performative work in response.

Untitled, 1956 will present Grace Ndiritu’s commissioned carpet which incorporates a found image of a 1975 Artist Placement Group meeting.

This commission reveals a resonance between her practice and Latham’s lifelong aim to bring reflective and intuitive modes of thinking to wider society – most clearly manifested in his work with the Artist Placement Group, a pioneering organisation that negotiated placements for artists within industry and government.

Alongside this will be video documentation of new and existing performative works by Ndiritu, including Event Structure: Holistic Reading Room which will take place at FTHo on Sunday 6 March 2022, 2–4pm amongst the already installed exhibition.

For Event Structure: Holistic Reading Room, Grace Ndiritu led a group reading of John Latham's text Event Structure, which focuses on ‘Deep Time’ and group work. The reading was interspersed by silent meditation breaks led by Ndiritu.

Roberts Institute of Art

Grace Ndiritu, Event Structure: Holistic Reading Room (video still) at Flat Time House, 6 March 2022.

Courtesy the artist. Photo: Holm Films
Roberts Institute of Art

Grace Ndiritu, Event Structure: Holistic Reading Room (video still) at Flat Time House, 6 March 2022.

Courtesy the artist. Photo: Holm Films
Roberts Institute of Art

Grace Ndiritu, Event Structure: Holistic Reading Room (video still) at Flat Time House, 6 March 2022.

Courtesy the artist. Photo: Holm Film
Roberts Institute of Art

Grace Ndiritu, Event Structure: Holistic Reading Room (video still) at Flat Time House, 6 March 2022.

Courtesy the artist. Photo: Holm Film

The second exhibition in the trilogy Red, Green and Yellow (28 April–29 May) features works from the David and Indrė Roberts Collection by John Latham, Liliane Lijn, Tim Head, Bob Law and Wolfgang Tillmans in an installation conceived by Berlin-based artist Julius Heinemann. The minimal and conceptual works in this presentation experiment with pure form, resonating with Latham’s belief in reflective and intuitive modes of working.

The third and final exhibition, Gone Fishing (16 June–17 July), features work by John Latham, Boyle Family and Marlie Mul with a new audio commission by London-based artist Damien Roach under the umbrella of his cross-media project, patten. Latham and Boyle Family were pioneers in understanding sculpture as conceptual art and central participants and in the cross-pollination of popular culture and the avant-garde.

An accompanying publication produced by FTHo and RIA with newly commissioned texts will be launched in June 2022.

Supported by Arts Council England, Henry Moore Foundation and The John Latham Foundation.

Roberts Institute of Art

Flat Time House and the Roberts Institute of Art

This new collaboration between Flat Time House (FTHo) and the Roberts Institute of Art (RIA) takes as a starting point prominent John Latham works from the David and Indrė Roberts Collection. The partnership, presented at FTHo, explores ideas in Latham’s work through performance-based commissions and a selection of key works from the collection.

2021 was the centenary year of John Latham’s birth, and this three-part presentation has developed from a conversation between RIA and FTHo around finding new perspectives on Latham’s work through a dialogue between the David and Indrė Roberts Collection and the John Latham archive.

Grace Nditiru

Grace Ndiritu is a British-Kenyan artist whose artworks are concerned with the transformation of our contemporary world. Ndiritu’s intervention at FTHo seeks to transform notions of group experiments from history to the present day through social practice.

Flat Time House

Flat Time House (FTHo) was the studio home of John Latham (1921–2006), recognised as one of the most significant and influential British post-war artists. In 2003, Latham declared the house a living sculpture, naming it FTHo after his theory of time, ‘Flat Time’. Until his death, Latham opened his door to anyone interested in thinking about art. It is in this spirit that

Flat Time House opened in 2008 as a gallery with a programme of exhibitions and events exploring the artist's practice, his theoretical ideas and their continued relevance. It also provides a centre for alternative learning, which includes the John Latham archive, and an artist's residency space.