Exhibition Review: Echo Locate

The corridors of Fitzpatrick Hall are lined with dozens of handwritten letters that, despite being sent between pairs of complete strangers, are alive with raw, desperate intimacy. Echo Locate – a new exhibition from the directorial minds of Tom Gibson and Yuki Holley – seeks to explore how connection and creativity can be nurtured by the physical act of letter-writing.

Twenty pairs of students from the University of Cambridge and Glasgow School of Arts, given code names for anonymity, were simply asked to communicate with their assigned partner via post. 144 letters were exchanged over the course of the experiment, with dozens of artworks created in the wake of these new relationships. The pieces were displayed at both schools in a wonderfully eclectic exhibition featuring paintings, film, dance, and, of course, the written word in its most vulnerable form.

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the exhibition is a genuinely touching exploration of human connection within the digital age

A striking oil painting by Esther Keeley is one such work. The two human subjects – one contorted in a pastiche of Rodin’s ‘Despair’, the other bearing a crucifix – are depicted in such fierce red and orange hues that the piece almost emits a tangible heat. It is no surprise that Keeley’s code name was ‘Joan’. Inspired by the French saint, burned at the stake for heresy, the painting seems to reflect upon the difficulty of commitment under the participants’ fleeting circumstances.

Despite these barriers of distance, anonymity, and the inevitable publicising of their words, the letters are filled with a stirring vulnerability that may be difficult between more conventional friends. JIB (Sydney Smith) admits dreaming of their partner, whilst Snail (Marko Hallauer) awaits their meeting with Salt (Nene Obiajuru) in another life. Bee (Beatrice Arden) feels that they have already met their partner in some transcendent way, whilst Rat (Edie Huddleston) isn’t sure if they’ve ever written a proper letter.

Rat certainly wouldn’t be alone. As if the advent of the telephone wasn’t enough, the internet was a death sentence for the handwritten letter. Instantaneous digital communication has certainly revolutionized human interaction, but what is lost in the immediacy of a text message, or in the soulless script of an email? What happens when deliberate acts of creation are encouraged?

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If Echo Locate is an experiment, it is a successful one. The art is a testament to that, though the lasting impressions on the participants, viewers, and curators is perhaps an even stronger one.

Participant Miki Derdun argues that this loss of tactile communication has resulted in a mounting lack of appreciation for both craft and labour. His exhibited film, Self Portrait (2024), features an uncanny computer-generated replica of himself, cartoonishly vectorised apart from the eyes, which remain jarringly human. Sections of the film feature Derdun sitting alone in the dark, watching videos of a woman crying over letters from a past lover.

These scenes can be seen as damning; an accusation of voyeurism addressed at the viewer for intruding on moments of intimacy that do not belong to them. Some, however, choose to view it as an invitation. Director Gibson believes that as humans we are inherently collaborative, and that in the act of presenting art to an audience, that art itself becomes collaborative. By observing and reflecting upon the exhibition, more layers of connection and dialogue become weaved into it.

The participants did not hide behind their pen names forever, though. The private viewing was an opportunity for them to finally meet, an experience which Karolina Ludera described as ‘scarier than a Hinge date’. The sight of watching people attempt to identify their partners was an endearing performance in itself; a natural progression of what I hope will become lasting friendships.

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the letters are filled with a stirring vulnerability

If Echo Locate is an experiment, it is a successful one. The art is a testament to that, though the lasting impressions on the participants, viewers, and curators is perhaps an even stronger one. Simultaneously a rejection and an embrace of modernism, the exhibition is a genuinely touching exploration of human connection within the digital age. An imploration to slow down, to interact and communicate consciously. If you haven’t written a letter recently, I don’t blame you, but I do encourage you. You don’t need to give yourself a code name, befriend a stranger, or create a masterpiece. I guarantee that just by putting pen to paper, you will uncover parts of yourself you never knew existed.

Echo Locate is a limited exhibition, displayed in Queens College, Cambridge (24th- 31st January, 2025) and Vic Bar, Glasgow (3rd – 7th February, 2025).