Tan Mu: Signal
On view
5 September – 15 November 2025
Tan Mu’s ongoing Signal series is a sustained artistic investigation into the invisible architectures of global communication. The series transforms submarine fiber-optic networks into symbolic “digital constellations”—bridging abstraction and representation, emotion and system. The artist reimagines these hidden infrastructures not merely as technical constructs but as vessels of collective memory and human connection. By fusing planetary systems with individual and cultural histories, Signal creates poetic diagrams of connection and rupture, mapping time, scale, and collective presence.
As part of a longterm collaboration between Tan Mu and BEK Forum on Signal, the exhibition features five paintings from the series, which depict the undersea telecommunication cables that connect and compose our global, techno-human society. This body of work, grounded in Tan Mu’s oil painting technique and diving experience, creates original, milestone imagery that reflects our evolving relationship with both technology and one another.
Having entered top international collections since its debut at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, the Signal series will have its first comprehensive presentation, accompanied by music and scholarly programs.
Programs
Sophie Steiner and Chatori Shimizu
2 September
Inspired by the spatio-temporal dimensions of Tan Mu’s Signal series, the music performance “Everything on the Line” imaginatively reads the paintings as graphic notation. Dots of urban hubs and lines of submarine cables resemble celestial bodies and constellations to conjoin the ocean and the sky. The canvases may evoke the ancient Greek geometric harmony, the Chinese cosmology embodied in Qin, or for a modern audience, the chance composition of John Cage. The authorship of these scores, though, lies as much with the painter and the musicians as with a dynamic world deeply shaped by submarine cables and other forms of technological infrastructure. The lines on the canvas are transformed into musical phrasings that transcend the physical distance between the artwork and the viewer.
The performance also attempts to create a multisensory experience full of nuances between the abstract and the mimetic, the durational and the two-dimensional. If one finds comfort of serenity and perpetuity in Tan Mu’s paintings, the performance gives a picture of what lurks beneath. The tangible lines on the string instruments turn into abstract sounds and vibrations. Each sound created on a single string resembles the fragility inherent in every connection in our human and natural world - everything on the line.
Signal: Submarine Networks 04 (Norway), 2025
Oil and acrylic on linen
152.5 x 183 cm (60 x 72 in)
Signal 04 (Norway) centers on the dense mesh of submarine cable systems that fringe the Norwegian coast, embedding the region within the digital currents of the North and Baltic Seas. As a gateway to the Arctic, Norway anchors the infrastructural frontier of future polar data routes. Linking Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and beyond, the cables sketch the edge of land through loops and convergences that ripple across the sea.
Signal 04 (Norway), 2025 (detail)
Signal: Submarine Networks 05 (UK), 2025
Oil and acrylic on linen
152.5 x 183 cm (60 x 72 in)
Signal 05 (UK) depicts the dense distribution of submarine cable networks encircling the British Isles. These cables traverse the North Sea and the English Channel, tightly linking mainland Britain with Ireland and extending onward to continental Europe.
Signal: Submarine Networks 06 (Caribbean Sea), 2025
Oil and acrylic on linen
152.5 x 183 cm (60 x 72 in)
Signal 06 (Caribbean Sea) presents the intricate network of submarine cables threading through the Caribbean Sea, linking the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and numerous smaller islands into a dense underwater communication system. Once a core maritime zone of colonial expansion and pirate lore, the Caribbean also bore witness to the transoceanic movement of sugar, rum, and spices—commodities deeply entangled with histories of violence and exploitation. Today, these submarine cables extend that legacy of "connectivity" into the digital age, weaving once sea-separated islands into the global flow of information.
Signal 06 (Caribbean Sea), 2025 (detail)
Signal: Submarine Networks 07 (Australia), 2025
Oil and acrylic on linen
152.5 x 183 cm (60 x 72 in)
Signal 07 (Australia) presents the vast network of submarine cables stretching across the South Pacific Ocean. These cables traverse the eastern coastline of Australia and extend toward New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, and numerous Pacific islands, forming a transoceanic structure of underwater communication.
Signal 07 (Australia), 2025 (detail)
Signal: Submarine Networks 08 (Italy), 2025
Oil and acrylic on linen
152.5 x 183 cm (60 x 72 in)
Signal 08 (Italy) traces the intricate convergence of submarine fiber optic cables—including key systems such as SeaMeWe-4, Unitirreno, and Blue—which intersect at Sicily, Malta, and southern Italy. These invisible pathways, extending from Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Europe, recast the Mediterranean from a historical trade hub into a vital corridor for today’s global flow of data.
Beyond the Signal
Alongside the five paintings from the Signal series, this group of additional works invites viewers into a wider atmosphere of thought and connotation. Together, they offer a broader context for understanding Tan Mu’s practice, which moves through themes of connection, transmission, perception, and presence.
Many of these works focus on moments when technology and human consciousness meet. In Share, a newborn rests in her father's arms, recalling the first digital photo ever shared via a mobile device. The painting quietly evokes the threshold of a new era, when the digital transmission of intimacy began to reshape how we relate. Eruption captures the moment a volcanic blast in Tonga severed communication lines, offering both a literal and symbolic image of rupture. In To Mars to Explore, a Mars rover appears to turn its camera back on itself, suggesting a pivotal moment of machine self-awareness, and raising questions about the edges of consciousness and the future of perception.
Other paintings shift the scale of inquiry toward the cosmic and the elemental. Torus evokes the self-sustaining energy system found throughout nature, from black holes to magnetic fields. The painting’s luminous center pulls us into a cycle of continuous movement, a loop of return. Observable Infinity imagines the universe gazing back at us, inviting a quiet reflection on our place within vast and hidden structures while in Moldavite and Antimony, Tan Mu turns her attention to the afterlives of cosmic events, rendering celestial minerals as carriers of memory and transformation. These works feel almost devotional, honoring the invisible connections between matter, time, and meaning.
Peek revisits the first photograph of Earth taken from space, a grainy glimpse that marked the beginning of a new kind of planetary awareness. Mapping, made from found circuit boards, resembles a star chart or satellite view, hinting at the poetic potential of signal, pattern, and logic embedded in our technological tools.
Share (2021) captures a pivotal moment in technological history—the first digital photo ever shared via a cell phone. In the painting, a newborn rests peacefully in her father’s arms, quietly announcing her arrival to the world. This image references the groundbreaking innovation of entrepreneur and technologist Philippe Kahn. In 1997, as Kahn awaited the birth of his daughter, he improvised a way to instantly share her first moments. By connecting a digital camera to his flip phone and syncing them with a few lines of code on his laptop, he created the first mobile photo-sharing device. The result was revolutionary: his daughter’s image was transmitted instantly to over 2,000 people, years before the advent of camera phones and social media. Share reflects not only a personal milestone but also a technological breakthrough that reshaped how we capture and share our lives.
Share, 2021
Oil on linen
46 x 61 cm (18 x 24 in)
Eruption, 2022
Oil on linen
76 x 61 cm (30 x 24 in)
Hung Tonga-Hung Ha'apai, a submarine volcano in the South Pacific, began erupting on December 20, 2021. Four weeks later, on January 15, 2022, the eruption reached a dramatic climax with an enormous explosion recorded by modern instruments. The event caused extensive damage to undersea cables in the surrounding area, severing Tonga's communication with the rest of the world. This disconnection highlighted for Tan Mu the critical role undersea cables play in global information transmission and modern society's reliance on them. Five weeks after Tonga's network communication was restored, Tan Mu created Eruption (2022) to replicate and document imagery of Hung Tonga-Hung Ha'apai. At the heart of the painting is a mushroom cloud from the volcanic eruption, shrouding Tonga. Two intersecting lines form a cross, representing the overhead perspective of meteorogram and satellite.
To Mars to Explore, 2022
Oil on linen
91 x 102 cm (36 x 40 in)
To Mars to Explore (2022) marks the beginning of the Mars series, focusing on the serendipitous moment when the Curiosity rover captured a "selfie" on Mars, a moment that seems to blur the boundary between technology and self-awareness. Curiosity is a car-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission. On February 19, 2022, Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) took an image of the rover itself on the Martian surface and sent the photo back to Earth. The image captured by the rover can be interpreted as a machine "selfie," inviting us to explore the absurdity of the current age and the possibilities of artificial intelligence. To Mars to Explore is a meditation on this unusual moment, sparking a conversation about the potential consciousness of machines.
Torus, 2021
Oil on linen
61 x 46 cm (24 x 18 in)
Every atom on Earth is part of the torus, a self-sustaining energy system essential to life and power. Composed of two converging vortices, the torus forms a loop where energy spirals inward, moves along the axis, exits through the opposite vortex, and returns to its origin, symbolizing interconnectedness. Nature's most awe-inspiring phenomena—tornadoes, whirlpools, black holes, magnetic fields, and planetary atmospheres—all exhibit this form. The Earth’s own torus sustains its atmosphere, circulating through its core and enveloping the surface in protection. This shape extends beyond celestial bodies, reflected in the energy fields surrounding humans and plants, linking all living beings to the universe's rhythms. Torus (2021) appears as a cosmic lens—transparent and spherical—encapsulating swirling galaxies, cascading light, and a central pulse of energy. The surrounding ethereal black void amplifies its luminosity, evoking both infinite expansion and intimate containment.
Gaze: Observable Infinity 02, 2025
Oil on linen
36 x 61 cm (14 x 24 in)
Observable Infinity (2025) draws from the concept of the “observable universe,” transforming it into an immersive cosmic experience. At its core, the painting features a radiant, circular light resembling an eye—a “cosmic iris”—as though the universe itself is gazing back at the viewer. This focal point is encircled by concentric rings of color, fading gradually into darkness, symbolizing both the visible and hidden realms of existence.
Moldavite, 2020
Oil on linen
36 x 28 cm (14 x 11 in)
Moldavite (2020) draws inspiration from the celestial movements of cosmic bodies and the immense forces that shape our universe. Around 15 million years ago, a meteorite impact in what is now southern Germany (Nördlinger Ries Crater) gave birth to Moldavite (Czech: vltavín)—a rare, translucent green tektite. Formed through the fusion of terrestrial and extraterrestrial matter, this enigmatic gemstone carries the echoes of cosmic collisions and the mysteries of deep time. In Tan Mu’s painting, the dark background accentuates the vibrant green hues and intricate patterns at the center—its fingerprint-like textures mirroring the unique identity of tektites as fragments of the cosmos, preserving the stories of celestial events across the vast river of time.
Antimony, 2020
Oil on linen
40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in)
Isaac Newton once studied impure antimony in his alchemical experiments; the semimetal’s luster reminded him of Regulus in the Leo constellation, leading him to name it "Regulus XIV antimony.“ In fact, antimony has a profound connection to the cosmos: it is formed through stellar nucleosynthesis in supernova explosions, then incorporated into new stars and planets, eventually becoming part of Earth’s composition. Although Newton's alchemical experiments did not yield breakthroughs, antimony may have inspired his thoughts on the interaction of objects across great distances, laying the groundwork for modern physics. Today, antimony is an essential element in modern technology, playing a crucial role in semiconductors, alloys, and flame-retardant materials. In Antimony (2020), Tan Mu uses an entirely black background to draw attention to the beauty of the element itself. From cosmic explosions to chemical refinement, from physical applications to technological advancements, the radiant visual display of Antimony reflects its profound impact on materials and technology.
Peek, 2021
Oil on linen
91 x 102 cm (36 x 40 in)
Peek (2021) is a painting that reimagines the first photograph ever taken from space. On October 24, 1946, the V-2 No. 13 rocket was launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, reaching an altitude of 65 miles. This rocket captured the Earth from space, marking the first time humanity glimpsed our planet against the vast, dark expanse of the cosmos. It took photographs every 1.5 seconds, at a speed five times faster than any previous camera. Peek (2021) pays homage to this historic image, which also serves as the genesis of Tan Mu's Horizon series—an exploration of Earth's satellite perspective.
Horizons draws inspiration from the International Space Station, offering a transformative perspective on humanity and Earth. The series captures the radiant lights of megacities and the dreamlike reflections of Earth’s atmosphere. Tan Mu explores the potential of technology to expand visual boundaries, particularly through real-time transmissions from space that allow humanity to observe Earth from a cosmic vantage point. This “panoramic gaze,” enabled by technology, fosters collective awareness and redefines landscape art, offering a cosmic-scale reexamination of human existence.
Horizons 03, 2024
Oil on linen
46 x 61 cm (18 x 24 in)
Mapping, 2021
Circuit board mounted on wood panel
63.5 x 49.5 cm (25 x 19.5 in)
A circuit board serves as the architectural framework of a computer's functioning mind, operating on the core principle of manipulating on-and-off signals to execute logical operations. It mechanically supports and interconnects electronic components, facilitating the flow of these signals. Each hole and engraving etched onto a chip carries its own significance. In Mapping (2021), a collection of thirty-five found circuit boards is reimagined as an operational map spliced together.
Like most of Tan Mu’s works, at first glance these additional works do not relate directly to the Signal series, but open us to deeper questions. How do we reach one another, across distance and time? What lives inside the act of transmission? In different ways, each painting listens for a reply, offering us not an answer but a kind of attention... a sense of being held within a wider, almost intangible field. When first encountering Tan Mu’s work, we are tempted to ask “what is our relationship with technology”? However as we explore the work deeper, we must question the very premise of the externality of technology with respects to humanity. While observing technology, are we not looking at ourselves? Therefore perhaps these works function more as self portraits, rather than depictions of external, scientific milestones.
Tan Mu (b. 1991, Shandong, China; lives and works in the United States) is a contemporary artist whose practice investigates the invisible structures that shape modern life—ranging from submarine communication systems and data flows to cosmic observation and memory systems. Her work constructs a visual language that bridges structure and emotion across both macro and micro scales, emphasizing the themes of connection and continuity that underscore our shared human experience.
Combining traditional oil painting with tools of expanded vision— including microscopes, satellite imagery, and scientific visualization— Tan Mu navigates the liminal space between technological history and personal experience. She views technology as both an extension of the body and an externalization of memory, creating compositions that interweave embryos, neurons, logic circuits, quantum computers, solar farms, data nodes, and celestial bodies. Through this layered imagery, she builds visual bridges between the visible and the invisible, the tactile and the abstract, the systemic and the affective.
Tan Mu holds a BFA in Expanded Media from Alfred University, New York (2015), and graduated from the High School of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (2011). Her work has been exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at Peres Projects (Berlin and Milan, 2022). She has participated in group shows at Arario Gallery, Shanghai, CN (2025); Penske Projects, New York; Winter Street Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard (2024); YveYANG, New York (2023). Her work has been featured and critically reviewed internationally, engaging themes of technology, memory, and visual abstraction across platforms such as Artnet News, Mousse Magazine, and others. Her paintings are part of private and institutional collections internationally.