Beneath the ocean floor, fibre optic cables pulse with the traffic of our hyperconnected world, transmitting the data of the digital present along maritime corridors forged by centuries of trade, empire, and war. These same oceanic routes remain deeply contested—reshaped today by maritime sovereignty claims, deep-sea extraction, platform capitalism, ocean zoning, and volatile geopolitical currents, including new forms of militarization and territorial control.
Responding to these shifting currents, Subsea Signals examines how artists and scholars from the Asia Pacific engage with the ocean’s material and historical layers, transforming submerged traces into speculative archives where sunken histories resurface through digital flows, and hidden networks suggest alternative modes of transmission and connectivity.
The programme convenes live readings, film screenings, presentations, and panel discussions to trace the fluid intersections of maritime history and digital technologies. The first section, Submerged Histories, explores colonial legacies of indentured labour and forced migration through sonic interventions, sonar mappings, and other speculative methods—charting routes of deportation, diaspora, and unresolved returns. The second, Digital Flows, interrogates socio-technical systems—from cloud infrastructures to hydropower networks—as extensions of colonial territoriality, while tracking how artists and scholars expose their material impacts (deep-sea mining) or reimagine their logics (whale song as counter-archive).
Through these diverse artistic and scholarly interventions, Subsea Signals maps the undercurrents where hidden histories and emerging technologies intersect—revealing patterns of exploitation and resistance that reverberate across oceanic spaces, while imagining new possibilities for connection beyond existing power structures.
Convened by Dr Wenny Teo, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Asian Art, The Courtauld, and Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, Director, Asymmetry.
Schedule:
9.00 – 9.30: Registration opens
The Courtauld, Vernon Square Campus,
9.30 – 9.45: Introduction
Dr Wenny Teo, The Courtauld
9.45 – 10.40: Keynote I : Centenaries
Professor susan pui san lok, University of the Arts London
10.40 – 11.35: Solo Presentation: Maritime Bodies and Spectral Networks: Notes on Sharjah Biennial 16 and Ghost2568
Amal Khalaf, Artist and Curator
11.35 – 11.50: Break
11.50 – 13.00: Panel I: Submerged Histories
Chaired by Dr Wenny Teo, The Courtauld
A Drop in the Ocean, Sim Chiyin, Artist
A New Composition for the Sea, Chris Zhongtian Yuan, Artist
13.00 – 14.15: Lunch Break
Provided for speakers and organisers only
14.15 – 15.05: Screenings: Hydrospheres
Introductions by Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt, Asymmetry
The Rivers They Don’t See, Som Supaparinya, Artist
Long Time Between Sunsets and Underground Waves, Hu Wei, Artist
15.05 – 16.00: Keynote II: Sensorial Oceans
Erin Y. Huang, University of Toronto
16.00 – 16.15: Break
16.15 – 17.45: Panel II: Digital Flows
Chaired by Clara Che Wei Peh, Asymmetry
Payne Zhu, Artist
Shuang Li, Artist
Iris Long, Researcher and Curator
17.45: Closing remarks
17.45 – 18.30: Drinks reception
Open to all
