Tan Mu (b. 1991, Shandong, CN) is a contemporary artist exploring the complex relationship between modern technology, global interconnectedness, individual memory, and collective consciousness. Her art delves into the intersection of socio-technological history and personal experience, emphasizing the themes of connection and continuity that underscore our shared human experience. Utilizing traditional oil painting techniques with expanded vision like microscopes and satellites, she navigates the vast timeline of human innovation, integrating these elements into her surroundings and creative process.
Mu’s education in Expanded Media Studio Art at Alfred University profoundly shaped her artistic approach. Studying under influential mentor Emil Schult, she gained the tools and conceptual frameworks to explore themes of technology and science through painting. Her multidisciplinary training at The Institute for Electronic Arts allowed her to incorporate sensory media, programming, and mechanical devices into her work. This integration pushed traditional boundaries, resulting in multidimensional painting that reflect on the connection between humans, the microcosmos and the vastness of space.
Tan Mu’s art reflects her role as a witness to the evolving history of technology and science, drawing inspiration from archival records and contemporary advancements. Her practice spans themes such as embryos, neurons, logic circuits, quantum computers, solar farms, data networks, and the mysteries of the cosmos. These elements converge to examine the profound interplay between technology and human experience. Central to her exploration is the concept of technology as both an extension of the body and an externalization of memory. Mu conceives fabric of memory as a dynamic system, where internal memory (the brain and neurons) embodies personal emotions and experiences, while external memory (data centers and submarine cable networks) preserves collective consciousness and cultural narratives. By mapping these systems, her work illustrates how technology connects personal and collective dimensions of memory, akin to an archaeological excavation uncovering layers of meaning from the past and insights into the future.
Tan Mu’s practice is further shaped by the transformative interplay of disconnection and connection, a central concept in her exploration of memory and consciousness. This concept originated from a personal experience of temporary memory loss, which revealed the fragility of human cognition and inspired her to delve into the fragmentation, preservation, and integration of memory. Her work investigates these dynamics, balancing the vulnerability, flow, and resilience of memory while seeking universal connections with the world.
Building on this foundation, Mu references the concept of a Conceptual Universe—a structural framework that connects dimensions of existence, from the "atomic" scale of particles to the "brain" scale of human cognition and "galaxy" scale of cosmic systems. This framework deepens her inquiry into technology’s role in mediating memory and experience, bridging the tangible and the abstract, the individual and the universal. Intuitively mapped in her work, these hidden laws of interconnectedness resonate with scientific approaches to collective knowledge. Her art reveals the extraordinary precision of these systems, forming a conceptual infinity where art meets science, intuition meets logic.
Tan Mu’s art transcends self-expression, evolving into an extended dialogue with herself and a documentation of our time. Her paintings bridge the pictorial creativity of her compositions and the postal-like tokens of collective memory, serving as "timestamps"—visual markers that encapsulate the essence of historical and contemporary dynamics. These works provide profound insights into humanity’s ongoing "world-making," reflecting on the dramatic transformations driven by advancements in space exploration, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering.These shifts offer a lens through which to explore cultural synchronicity for the audience, evoking blurred yet familiar sensations in memory that transcend specific times and spaces.
Through a distinctive visual language that transforms trauma and blurred memories into symbolic imagery, Tan Mu bridges personal narratives and collective consciousness. Her work fosters a profound dialogue about memory, technology, and the universal human experience, transforming "disconnection" into "connection." By tracing the flow of knowledge and emotional bonds, her paintings emphasize the evolving web of collective memory. More than a record of history, Mu’s art is a vessel for nourishing memory, bridging past and present while imbuing human culture with continuity and deep spiritual resonance.