Artist Story

Tan Mu’s connection with the ocean runs as deep as its hidden depths, rooted in both her upbringing and family history. Tan Mu grew up by the seaside in Shandong, where her family shared a deep connection with sailing and windsurfing. Her mother, a professional windsurfer, was part of China’s first windsurfing team in the 1980s. Tan Mu spent her childhood exploring the ocean, often venturing out on sailboats with her family. These experiences nurtured her lifelong fascination with the sea's beauty, mystery, and its intricate connection to life and memory.

This sense of wonder was further shaped by her upbringing in Yantai, a seaside city where she was profoundly influenced by her paternal grandfather, a marine engineer whose expertise in harbor design and land reclamation brought her into intimate contact with the complex, often unseen world of oceanic infrastructure. From an early age, she was exposed to the intricate blueprints and bathymetric contour lines that mapped the seafloor, offering her a glimpse into the ocean's hidden structure. These experiences reshaped Tan Mu's perception of the sea, transforming it into a living space of invisible information, unspoken narratives, and latent mysteries. Her grandfather’s work inspired her to see the ocean as both a physical entity and a reservoir of untold stories. His precise blueprints became a metaphor for her artistic process, navigating visible and invisible realms to explore how the sea, like memory and information, carries both tangible and intangible legacies.

Diving Deep Blue

Tan Mu’s passion for free diving further deepens her bond with the ocean. For her, free diving is more than a sport—it is a metaphorical journey that mirrors her artistic process. Descending into the ocean’s depths on a single breath, she enters a realm of silence and weightlessness, suspended between ascent and descent. This immersive experience mirrors her creative exploration—a venture into the unknown that tests physical and psychological boundaries.

A diving accident that resulted in temporary memory loss became a defining moment in Tan Mu’s life and artistic practice. This encounter with the fragility, resilience, and intricate fabric of memory became a central theme in her work, shaping her exploration of how memory connects and disconnects, and how it weaves the unseen threads of human experience. The ocean, for Mu, is not only a vast physical entity but also a repository of collective memory and a inspiration of the fabric of memory.

From Personal Inspiration to Global Narrative

Origin: Eruption ( February, 2022)

As a passionate free diver, Tan Mu had long dreamed of visiting Tonga to witness its majestic whales. The origins of her Signal series, which explores the hidden structures of information systems, can be traced back to Eruption (2022)—a work inspired by the volcanic explosion in Tonga. 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. For Tan Mu, this disconnection underscored the critical role undersea cables play in global information transmission and modern society's dependence on them. More than mere physical infrastructure, these cables form the backbone of global connectivity.

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 . This work employs visual language to contemporarily document the event, echoing how modern audiences witnessed the explosion unfolding through screens and media coverage. It invites reflection on technology's role in shaping contemporary life and explores the deeper meanings of connection and disconnection in our interconnected world, ultimately laying the conceptual foundation for the Signal series.

Exploration: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (May, 2023)

The completion of Eruption (2022) sparked a deeper curiosity in Tan Mu, leading her to further explore the theme. While creating Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (2023), she shifted her focus from a specific event to submarine cables as a symbol of global connectivity. Hidden beneath the vast ocean, undersea cables are marvels of modern technology, reminiscent of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. These fiber-optic strands traverse the globe, transmitting the data that powers international connectivity. Much like Captain Nemo’s Nautilus, they navigate the complexities of real-time communication, enabling streaming, collaboration, and the seamless operation of e-commerce, financial systems, and remote work. Beyond their physical form, these cables symbolize a redefinition of cultural exchange, education, and human connection. As essential conduits of the global economy, they extend the boundaries of modern existence, embodying a world without limits and charting new frontiers in human interaction and innovation.

Serialization: Signal Series (2024-)

After completing Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 2023, Tan Mu expanded her focus from a singular geographical event to the global network system as a whole. Her interest in submarine cables grew from examining their structural cross-sections to exploring their global distribution and interconnection. This panoramic perspective led her to launch a comprehensive map series that presents, through visual art, the complexity and connectivity of the global information network.

The Signal Series is the beginning of the a long term project, not only a documentation of modern technology, but also a visual narrative about how humanity is searching for hope and possibilities between ‘connectivity’ and disconnectivity’. Tan Mu’s creative motivation is deeply rooted in her contemplation of the technological vulnerabilities of contemporary society, as well as her personal dedication to exploration and documentation. This intersection of technology, nature, and human destiny laid a strong conceptual foundation for the Signal series. Through this exploration, Tan Mu brings her personal insights into a broader artistic dialogue on the global forces shaping the present and future.