Tawfik Naas
Manifestations For An Eternal Spring
09 May – 16 August 2026
Public Opening: 09 May 2026, 14:00–18:00
Flatland Projects is proud to present Manifestations for an Eternal Spring, a new commission and the first institutional solo exhibition by researcher Tawfik Naas.
Developed through an ongoing body of research, the exhibition unfolds as what Naas describes as a choreography of research. Rather than a fixed installation, works are positioned across the gallery as sites of encounter, held within a wider conceptual framework the researcher terms “Returning.” For Naas, returning is not a simple act of looking back. It operates across three simultaneous positions: a return from the distance created by time; a return to the moment of re-encounter; and a position in between, where past and present are held together. The works in the exhibition occupy this middle condition, resisting resolution and instead sustaining a state of entanglement.
Across the space, a series of sculptural bodies referred to as “Orchards” appear at different stages of formation. These works deliberately resist completion. Some emerge as if mid-evolution; others are flattened through light or colour, diffused or partially obscured. This suspended quality positions the works not as fixed objects, but as processes in motion. The Orchards function as material instances of becoming. They appear to move both towards and away from form, holding traces of earlier states while continuing to shift in the present. In this way, they embody a temporal paradox: objects that are of now, yet inhabited by what has come before.
A key reference for the exhibition is the astronomical phenomenon of contact binaries, two stars orbiting in such proximity that they begin to share matter. This condition of closeness and exchange informs the relationships between works. Sculptural forms appear in pairs or groupings, suggesting bodies that exist through proximity, where material, light and space pass between them. Within Naas’ practice, research does not sit as explanation but as a generative condition. The works do not resolve research; they hold it open. The Orchards operate as sites where enquiry continues to unfold.
This new commission marks a shift within Naas’ wider research. Previous chapters have approached history through extraction and deviation, exploring how ecological systems hold and process trauma. Here, the focus turns toward the experience of return itself; what it means to encounter history again through the body, whether human or botanical. History is not presented for interpretation at a distance. Instead, it is reprocessed within the environments that produced it. It does not leave its landscape; rather, it moves through it.
This new commission by Flatland Projects has been generously supported by essential funds from the Henry Moore Foundation, Arts Council England, Chalk Cliff Trust and Rother District Council, with additional support from the De La Warr Pavilion.
Annie Whiles
Doorway Guardians
09.05.26 - 16.08.26
Doorway Guardians is a series of three large woodcarvings by Annie Whiles. They combine the imagery and culture of British seaside destinations with the media and methods of sacred painted medieval carvings, while echoing the artist’s memories of molded-plastic charity collection boxes of the 1960s and ’70s.
They are designed to sit in the entranceways and thoroughfares of gallery buildings. Their role as divine attendants is to be preoccupied but open, listening and on watch, to be touched. Throughout 2026 they will simultaneously occupy entrance spaces at Matt’s Gallery in London, KARST in Plymouth and Flatland Projects in Bexhill.
Over the course of the year they will be rotated and exchanged, following the galleries’ exhibition schedules and setting up a changing series of encounters for visitors at the partner venues. Eccentric and idiosyncratic, Whiles’ work combines highly accomplished technical skill with cheeky humour. There is often more than meets the eye – hidden elements and surprises are there for those who look.
The works are neither rarified nor precious but designed to travel, gathering patina from being touched by visitors as they encounter different audiences in different spaces. Each stands between 150 and 185cm in height and weighs between 160 and 250kg.
Collaboration between public art organisations across the UK is central to the project, with the Guardians taking on a civic role that encourages a sense of public ownership. A spirit of cooperation is embodied through touring and sharing the work.
Opening on 9 May at Flatland Projects, the presentation coincides with the opening of Manifestations For An Eternal Spring, a new commission by Tawfik Naas, launching the same weekend (on view until 16 August 2026).
At Matt’s Gallery, London, Whiles’ woodcarving will be on show alongside ZYX, a new sound installation by Anna Barham (2 – 28 June 2026) and at KARST, Plymouth, alongside Faunal Succession, the first institutional UK exhibition by Lucía Pizzani (12 June – 1 Aug 2026).
Doorway Guardians was developed by Whiles with support from an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant and Goldsmiths, University of London. The exhibition is a partnership between Matt’s Gallery, London; KARST, Plymouth; and Flatland, Bexhill with support from the Henry Moore Foundation and Arts Council England.
Also on display:
Adrian Cox, None of us are free until all of us are free (2025)
(Front facade of Flatland’s building, Young Persons Banner Commission)PRESS RELEASE - MATT’S GALLERY