Flat Time House, the south London studio home of John Latham, which the British artist declared a living sculpture, is due to close permanently next year.
A campaign to save the gallery was launched in 2013 after the Latham family announced they were no longer able to support the project and needed to sell the house. Flat Time House Institute needed to raise just over £1m to buy the property at 210 Bellenden Road in Peckham, where Latham lived for around 20 years, but was unable to meet its target.
"Flat Time House will continue with a vibrant programme until the house closes in summer 2016, and thereafter the Institute plans to continue its activities at other venues, to be announced," the organisation said in a statement.
Flat Time House opened in October 2008, two years after Latham died, aged 84. The distinctive three-storey terraced house, which is painted matt grey and white and has a large shop window on the ground floor with two giant replica books sticking horizontally out of the glass, hosts exhibitions, artist residencies and events that explore Latham’s practice and theories. It also houses the John Latham archive.
Latham first proclaimed the building a living sculpture in 2003, naming it Flat Time House (usually abbreviated to FTHo) after his theory of time, which he called “flat time” or “time-base theory”. The basic idea was that all things in the universe—whether objects or thoughts—are events, or happen over time. An anarchistic understanding of the world was also reflected in how Latham would open up his home to anyone interested in thinking about art.
Since it was founded, Flat Time House Institute has been financially supported by the Latham family, the Arts Council, the estate of Barry Flanagan, Lisson Gallery, the Art Fund, the Danielson Foundation, the Henry Moore Foundation and other arts organisations.
