The Cable / 電纜

2024
installation with drawing
graphite drawing, 42 x 42 cm x 6 P
3D scanning and colour printing
work commissioned by the Hong Foundation

Installation view at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) in Taipei, Taiwan, 2024. Photograph by Sean Wang / Hong Foundation

Submarine cables form the material backbone of global connectivity, carrying more than 90% of international data traffic. Yet their political and physical presence remains inaccessible: buried beneath the seabed, governed by commercial secrecy, and increasingly framed as critical national infrastructure. The Cable comprises graphite cross-sectional studies that enlarge these conduits into objects of scrutiny. At each core, hair-thin glass fibres transmit light-borne data, while a conductive copper layer powers repeaters positioned along transoceanic routes; steel armouring, waterproof compounds, and polyethylene insulation protect this fragile system. Moving between scientific diagram and forensic image, the drawings trace the evolution compressed within each cable. Rather than presenting connectivity as immaterial or neutral, The Cable asks how control over landing points, routes, maintenance, and ownership structures access to information, revealing the concentrated corporate and geopolitical power embedded within the ocean’s concealed communication architecture.

Additionally, a telegraph submarine cable, which had lain dormant on the seabed for over 80 years after the Japanese colonial period, is presented through 3D scanning and printing techniques. This cable was salvaged in 1999 and is currently housed in the National Museum of Science and Technology in Kaohsiung.

The Cable (01)

The Cable (05)

The Cable (02)

Special thanks for the support from the Hong Foundation and Foison Art Studio

Related Information ︎
︎︎︎ Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab
︎︎︎ e-flux
︎︎︎ Hong Foundation

© 2026 Musquiqui Lab

The Cable / 電 纜

© 2026
Musquiqui Lab

The Cable / 電纜