The paint has barely dried on the walls of a new artist-led gallery space on the British seaside, but Unit 2 Gallery has already had three exhibitions since opening earlier this month in St. Leonards-On-Sea, UK.
On view from June 13 to 16, artist Wang Huan’s exhibition Mushrooms, Threads, and Gondola delved into representations of regeneration and interdependence within the fragile fabric of contemporary life. Curated by Haoyue Chen, the installation probed the transformative power of discarded materials and how imagination can influence human potential.
The works don’t just whisper sweet nothings to ruin—they rummage through its pockets. With scraps and remnants in hand, the exhibition imagined a world where what’s tossed aside doesn’t vanish, but rather it sprouts anew: stitched, spored, and shimmering with possibility. These remnants are reimagined as vessels of resilience and rebirth, responding to the ruins left behind by progress, decay, and disregard. The leftovers here don’t hide but lounge on the shore like driftwood philosophers.
Glimmers and ghostings ripple through the space, which comprises sculpture, video, and installation. Huan’s works, with their delicate bravado, float like flotsam made sacred, dreaming of second chances. The mushrooms are there, quietly thriving beneath the concrete crust—woven through brick and salt, cheekily blooming in the chaos.
Modelled as an alternative to the traditional commercial structure, Unit 2 is a volunteer-run initiative organised by Hole Projects CIC, a social enterprise dedicated to expanding access to the arts, fostering experimentation, and creating exhibition opportunities for emerging artists and curators. The queer-led, trans-inclusive, and pro Palestine project runs through May 2026.
Unit 2
8—10 London Road
St Leonards-on-Sea
TN37 6AE, United Kingdom
