Oceanic Systems
Submarine infrastructure, ocean currents, maritime networks, and the deep systems that connect continents beneath the water.
The Cross That Marked the Silence: Tan Mu's Eruption and the Volcano That Cut the World's Cables
On January 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano detonated with a force equivalent to roughly fifteen megatons of TNT.
The Blade That Moves the Ocean: Tan Mu's The Wave 02 and the Propeller Between Worship and Water
Gold catches before the subject does.
The Cargo That Remembers: Tan Mu's Containers and the Weight of Passage
Tan Mu's maternal great-grandfather spent years traveling between China and Korea as a maritime trader during the Republican era.
The Sea That Became a Switchboard: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Network 08 and the Mediterranean Rewired
Three cables enter the Tyrrhenian Sea from the south, two from the east, one from the west.
The Silence That Followed the Explosion: Tan Mu's Eruption and the Cable That Connected the World
On January 15, 2022, at 5:14 pm local time, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai submarine volcano in the South Pacific produced the most powerful eruption of the twenty-first century. The explosion was heard in Alaska, six thousand miles away.
The Six Panels Between Water and Fire: Tan Mu's The Splash of a Drop 1 and the Scale of Erasure
A drop of milk falls from a height of three centimeters and strikes the surface of a shallow pool. The impact lasts roughly fifty milliseconds.
The Cross That Watched the Silence: Tan Mu’s Eruption and the Cable That Broke the World
The composition is built around a cross. Two lines intersect at the center of the canvas, one running vertically from top edge to bottom edge, the other running horizontally from...
The Cloud That Cut the Cable: Tan Mu's Eruption and the Island the World Forgot
Tan Mu, Eruption, 2022. Oil on linen, 76 x 61 cm (30 x 24 in). On January 15, 2022, at 5:14 PM local time, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano,...
The Veins Beneath the Water: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Network 05 and the Body the Ocean Became
Before Tan Mu ever saw a submarine cable, she saw marine maps. Her grandfather was a marine engineer who worked on large-scale coastal projects, port design, land reclamation, the...
The Metal That Moves the Water: Tan Mu's The Wave 03 and the Propeller as Devotional Object
A ship's propeller is the largest single piece of forged metal that most human beings will never see. It sits below the waterline, hidden in turbid wake, spinning at speeds that...
The Six Drops That Painting Remembered: Tan Mu's The Splash of a Drop 1 and the Moment That Photography Could Not Keep
In 1895, an English physicist named Arthur Mason Worthington published a book called The Splash of a Drop. The book documented a series of experiments that Worthington had...
The Coastline That Became a Switch: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Network 08 and the Mediterranean as Convergence
Li Yizhuo, writing in the BEK Forum catalog, noted that almost every visitor's first impression of the Signal series is of constellations. The dots and lines stretching across the...
The Path That Remembers: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Network 07 and the Stars Beneath the Water
In 1976, a crew of Micronesian navigators sailed the double-hulled canoe Hokule'a from Hawaii to Tahiti using no instruments whatsoever. Mau Piailug, a master navigator from...
The Empire That Went Underwater: Tan Mu's Signal 05 and the Routes That Never Disappeared
The first submarine telegraph cable connecting Britain to the European continent was laid across the English Channel in 1850, a single copper wire wrapped in gutta-percha, the...
The Coast That Remembers Every Connection: Tan Mu's Signal 04 and the Northern Gateway
In 1858, the first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid between Ireland and Newfoundland, and the news that Queen Victoria had sent a ninety-eight-word message to President...
The Second That Split the Atmosphere: Tan Mu's Eruption and the Instant Energy Becomes Form
On January 15, 2022, at 04:14:45 UTC, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted with a force equivalent to roughly four to eighteen megatons of TNT. The explosion was heard in...
The Constellation That Was Already There: Tan Mu’s Signal: Submarine Networks 02 and the Data Routes Beneath the East China Sea
On January 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted beneath the Pacific Ocean with a force roughly equivalent to 10 million tons of TNT. The blast generated a...
The Routes That Stayed: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Network 06 and the Caribbean's Unbroken Circuit
In 1852, the first submarine telegraph cable was laid beneath the English Channel.
The Cable at the Bottom of the Ocean: Tan Mu's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and the Nervous System Beneath the Water
Stand six inches from the canvas and the painting is all surface. The linen is visible, its weave rising and falling under layers of dark oil paint, a texture that the light catches and releases in shallow ridges that follow the threads.
The Spiral That Moves the Ship: Tan Mu's The Wave 03 and the Geometry of Propulsion
In March 1934, the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition called Machine Art. Curated by Alfred H.
The Chokepoint That Carries the World: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Network 03 and the Strait That Connects Everything
The Strait of Hormuz is twenty-one nautical miles wide at its narrowest point. Through it passes roughly one fifth of the world's daily oil supply. Through it also pass dozens of fiber-optic cables carrying data between South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
The Box That Moves the World: Tan Mu's Containers and the Memory of Logistics
In April 2021, a single container ship called the Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal and sat there for six days, blocking twelve percent of global trade.
Six Panels of Falling Water: Tan Mu and the Documentary Power of Painting
The frontispiece of Arthur Mason Worthington's 1895 book shows three photographs of a milk drop striking a plate, and the rest of the book shows hand-drawn illustrations. This is not because Worthington preferred drawing to photography.
The Nervous System of the World: Tan Mu's Signal: Submarine Networks 01 and the Cables That Keep the Planet Speaking
On January 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga erupted with an explosive force that generated a sonic boom audible in Alaska, produced a tsunami that crossed the Pacific, and severed the single submarine fiber-optic cable that connected Tonga to the global internet.
The Engine That Prays: Tan Mu's The Wave and the Sacred Propeller
In March 1934, the Museum of Modern Art in New York mounted an exhibition called Machine Art, curated by Alfred H.
The Eye of Fire: Tan Mu's Gulf of Mexico and the Flame at the Center of the Sea
On July 3, 2021, a gas leak at a depth of approximately 150 meters below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, west of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, ignited and produced a column of fire visible from space.
The Island That Went Silent: Tan Mu's Eruption and the Cable at the Bottom of the Sea
The most informative image of the January 15, 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai was not taken from the ground.
The Hand Re-Records the Splash: Tan Mu's The Splash of a Drop 1 and the Velocity of Seeing
In 1894, an English physicist named Arthur Mason Worthington dropped a small quantity of milk from a height of approximately six centimeters onto a shallow surface and attempted to record what happened next.
The Golden Vortex: Tan Mu's The Wave 02 and the Spiral That Connects All Motion
In 1934, the Museum of Modern Art mounted an exhibition called Machine Art, and among the objects it displayed were ship propellers borrowed from naval vessels and maritime engineering firms, propellers less than one meter in diameter that drove the ocean-going traffic of the 1930s.
The Decisive Moment That Photography Missed: Tan Mu's The Splash of a Drop and the Painting That Reclaims Time
In 1895, the English physicist Arthur Mason Worthington published a book called The Splash of a Drop.
The Spiral at the Bottom of the Ship: Tan Mu's The Wave and the Machinery That Mirrors Nature
Inside the engine room of a container ship, the propeller shaft descends through the hull at an angle, passing through a series of bearings and seals before it exits the vessel below the waterline and connects to the propeller, the massive, multi bladed assembly that converts the engine's rotational energy into the thrust that moves the ship through the water.
The Ocean Is Burning: Tan Mu's Gulf of Mexico and the Tradition of Maritime Catastrophe
On July 2, 2021, a gas leak from an underwater pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 150 meters from a platform operated by Petroleos Mexicanos, the Mexican state oil company, ignited on the ocean's surface.
The Box You Cannot Open: Tan Mu's Containers and the Philosophy of Global Exchange
In March 2021, the Ever Given, a container ship 400 meters long and 59 meters wide, ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking one of the most critical chokepoints in global maritime trade for six days.
The Logic Circuit Beneath the Ocean: Tan Mu's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and the Global Nervous System
In January 2022, a submarine volcano in the South Pacific erupted with a force equivalent to several hundred nuclear bombs, sending a pressure wave around the Earth twice. The explosion severed the two fiber-optic cables connecting the island of Tonga to the outside world.
Five Weeks Offline: Tan Mu's Eruption and the Fragility of the Connected World
For five weeks in early 2022, the Kingdom of Tonga did not exist on the internet. Not in any metaphorical sense.