Floating against a sea of well-dressed penguins, flutes of champagne, and voluptuous earthenware, two coordinating visions in yellow circulate around the room. North London-based duo Sarah van Gameren and Tim Simpson comprise the creative partnership known as Glithero, whose multimedia process art practice evades both parity and classification. Transforming the object – the vase – into a transient time document through photographic development, Glithero’s “hold me” project is as much a social venture and community engagement movement as a sculptural installation.

Sculpting the vases is only the beginning of the process. After each vase was “finished,” being thrown, Glithero treated each one with a blend of chemicals, rendering the surfaces of the vases photo sensitive. They then invited friends, family, neighbours, and acquaintances – over 100 people – to enact a short performance, which entailed holding the vase above one’s head and rotating 360° on an axis underneath a single beam of light.

Glithero then developed the pots in their dark room, spinning the vases like propellers of a boat – once again submerged in photo chemicals. What resulted is a series of printed pots that bear the traces of a community – as well as a photo archive of participants which is also included in the installation.

This organic yet methodical form of documentation speaks to the presence of a person and the traces they leave behind. Simpson explains how the information – or hand print – is “not visible on the piece until the vessel goes through a process of developing the image. By the end of it you have an image which has appeared and is fixed on the surface.” The idea for the process was created during lockdown, at a time when socialisation and physical touch was highly monitored.

Like the sensitivity of old panoramic photographs, each vase holds not only the information about the shape of the holders’ hand, but of movement, time, and light. The faint traces of one vase compared with the stark contrast of another indicate how quickly or slowly the holder spun round. Additionally, some vases were processed multiple times and depict the wispy, overlapping hand prints of multiple holders.

When asked whether she identifies as sculptor or photographer, van Gameren affirms that she identifies as human. “Every time we do a project, all the materials might change,” she explains, “if you’re talking about disciplines, I think we are in the middle between art, design, sculpture, craft…here we really feel at home.” By here van Gameren means FUMI – whose characteristically unconventional exhibitions walk a fine and downright fun line between art and…you could call it design but it wouldn’t do it justice. In essence, what FUMI exhibits is art that you just so happen to be allowed to touch, sit on, open and close – and not the other way around.

You, Me, and Everyone We Know is on view through 24 June

FUMI Gallery

2-3 Hay Hill

London W1J 6AS

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