Julie Upmeyer

VOID FRACTION

An ongoing exploration of limestone and limestone dust / powder / flour in its many forms.

This collaboration between Mari Rose Pritchard and Julie Upmeyer began with a seemingly simple line of inquiry - we were researching the permeability (both physically and conceptually) of Caernarfon Castle’s limestone walls.

Drawn to a local source for limestone, we visited Aber Quarry, a quarry still in operation on Anglesey.
On our very first visit, we encountered a by-product of the quarrying process: limestone powder an aqueous, semi-solid and almost rock-like state. Poured in a liquid state, it formed an opaque milky pool, piled high, it became towering white mountains.

We were instantly transfixed by its other-worldliness.

The project has taken us deep into time through performance, installation and actions on the beaches of Aberlleiniog, along the city walls of Istanbul and in quarries throughout Wales.

Void Fraction - Atmospheric Baggage

limestone, limestone dust, eco orange paint, graphite, wax, hazard tape, found wood
in the four Cei Llechi Art Boxes, Caernarfon, 2024

A series of four unlikely assemblages of limestone, words and luminescence - portals into the other-worlds of geological time.

Compression Afterglow

limestone, limestone dust, spotlights, vacuum storage bags, museum case
As part of ‘Transformation’ at Oriel Brondanw, 2024

Oh to think of stones as static
Can’t be farther from the truth
It is us that moves too quickly

But let us stand, observe
This limestone finds itself here, covered in its own dust
Treasured, stifled, contained...preserved?

To what avail

Air, a friend, while oxygen a force of irrefutable change
Water, a necessity, relentless in its transformative power
Indifference, unavoidable, our attention drifts away

But let us covet for a moment
Enjoy, embrace, entwine
Our timelines overlapping in the here and now

Cyrff Corsiog / Peat Bodies

Limestone additions, performative sculptures, activated scenes. Objects and actions to note place, create time and enlighten the imagination.
Channeling the underground limestone that forms and feeds this unique terrain. 

Views of our actions and objects at Cors Bodeilio, a living peatland reserve on Anglesey.
On the 31st of October, 2023 we were immersed in two hours of looping Void Fraction performative sculptures together with Manon Awst and Teddy Hunter.

Curated/created by Manon Awst as part of ‘Sticky Sculptures’

Supported by Natural Resource Wales and Arts Council Wales

Void Fraction & the Geological Society

Very proud to share our collaboration with the Geological Society of London. We were invited to present Void Fraction as a masterclass, an example of how artists can engage with geoscience.  “Finding your Artistic Voice in the Natural World” shows ways in which geology and art can be creatively combined. This is part of their Geoscience Everyday Competition leading up to Earth Science Week 2023. 

Void Fraction → Istanbul

For 10 days in June 2023, we were invited to Turkey for a residency and exhibition at PASAJist, an independent art space currently resident in Barın Han on the Golden Horn in Istanbul.
Our trip is generously supported by Wales Arts International - Celfyddydau Rhyngwladol Cymru

We walked, listened, discussed, created and performed, we touched time and industry. Connecting limestone pathways. Following a material with shared intent. Created something new.

We created and discovered connections between Wales (Britain) and Turkey (Constantinople), through limestone landscapes and culture, overlaps in ancient folk tales and the built world – starting with the connection between Caernarfon Castle in Wales and the Istanbul City Walls.

At the Quarry

We visited the quarries around Cebeci, experiencing an extracted landscape, the formations of lakes, voids, piles and fresh meandering roads.

The city walls

We walked the entirety of the Istanbul land walls, from Kazlicesme to Edernekapi. The walls and gates are in a dazzling array of repair/dis/repair, overlaying additions from the 7th century, with repairs from the 12th, with sections that were rebuilt entirely according to various city plans and aspirations over the last 40 years. We discovered the wonderful world of ‘spolia’ and were inspired by the sharp visual contrast of weathering stone and scaffolding metal.

At Barin Han

Barin Han is the former workshop, studio and office of Emin Barin, a renowned calligrapher and book binder that bridged the transition from Ottoman Turkish and Modern Turkish through exquisite typography and graphic design. The journey from his former workplaces on the ground floor to our studio saw us up at least 6 flights of beautifully designed terrazo stairs.

Void Fraction - Quarrying the VERTICAL

Our performative installations were based on the top-floor project space of Pasaj. Visual and conceptual elements from all our experiences came together to create the works. The performance infiltrated the entirety of the staircase and entranceway of Barin Han.

Aberlleiniog Pathways

On April 15th, 2023, as part of the Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail, we created a performative installation on Lleiniog Beach. We carried limestones from Plas Bodfa to the container at the beach, through the Lleiniog woodland - two stones per person, per trip. Our limestone covered vessel holds our contributions, what is taken is returned.

connecting Bodfa to Lleiniog 
carrying stones in addition to our own weight
tracing the path of limestone through time and coastline 

The Bodfa Interventions

Void Fraction was resident at Plas Bodfa during Anglesey Art Weeks Open Studios, creating a series of durational installations, land-art works, performances and conversations over the course of April, 2023. We populated a grassy patch, above and below the surface, with continuing limestone experimentations. Supersaturated limestone dust appeared underwater in an inlayed circle. A sphere, dug into the ground, lined with thick limestone paste was allowed to dehydrate and rehydrate with the rainfall. A thin layer of limestone slurry lined a metal sheet, crackling in the heat, sagging in the rain, settling into the lowest point of the inverted arch.

The Quarry

During our frequent visits to Aber Quarry on Anglesey, we dove deeply into the depths of aqueous limestone dust, delving into its transformative powers. Exploring the physical qualities of limestone in this unique state, we dug, sifted, filled, replicated, excavated, measured, cast, eroded, displaced, dehydrated and dissolved this mysterious, yet ubiquitous substance.

“it seems to repel the water almost on a cellular level, it seems to sweat, pushing it out to the surface as it is compressed”

“while drying, it wants to reform itself into rock-like striations,  layering and splitting apart in smooth planes”

An Exhibition

In Autumn 2022, we  brought our experiments and conversations into a gallery space to create:

Void Fraction at Oriel CARN in Caernarfon, Wales
08/10/22 - 20/11/22

As one possible creative response to our experience with the material, we created an immersive installation and a series of sculptures.

The exhibition presents creations made from quarried limestone offcuts, interspersed around limestone powder formations, in a variety of different physical states, both drying and taking on moisture throughout the exhibition period. 

Echoes of the quarry saw, cut across the gallery floor,  criss crossing wall to wall via graphite, column, light and shadow. The sound of the blade cutting through limestone blocks was an integral part to the artists’ visits to Aber Quarry. 

The constant flow of water across the blade runs off into a pool, taking with it the limestone powder,  drying slowly, compressing under its own weight. 

Visitors enter an other-worldly landscape, entangling themselves in the dialogue between the artists and the materials and space, as the conversation branches ever outwards.

“Solid stone becomes aqueous and flows down a gentle slope, 
pooling in a shape determined by the landscape. 

Simultaneously, the liquid evaporates and sinks into the earth, 
shrinking and cracking as it solidifies. 

Soft to the touch. 
Unable to hold undistributed weight. 
Malleable. Spreadable. Smooth. 
Sculptable as porcelain.

Solids piled high. 
Temporal structures. 
Compressed and solid, yet surprisingly vulnerable to water, from which it came. 
Contemporary formations.”

Rock → Cut → Ingress 

Quarried limestone offcuts, 
the useful pieces cut and sold, 
reveal their sheer faces, 
a window to another world.

“We’ve dug, sifted, filled, replicated, excavated, measured, cast, eroded, displaced, dehydrated and dissolved this mysterious,  yet ubiquitous substance. Our experiments have created more questions than answers, there is much still to explore.” 

Limestone is the material of choice for many iconic structures - the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Istanbul city walls and Caernarfon Castle.  Anglesey limestone is a hard, carboniferous rock, 300 million years old and full of fossils, shells of millions of sea creatures, compressed and heated over time.  Jolted from its bedrock home, this limestone is cut and shaped, formed into blocks. 

Rock fragments and powder piles up, layered with leaves, soil, bits of human rubbish and forgotten things. 
Compression. 
Time. 
The cycle begins again. 

What will this rock be called in the future?