The ray lights,telegraphy,flag semaphores

This project is part of the Reverberation series Beichen Zhang initiated in 2018, which probes the collision of geographic realities and historic forces within several archipelagoes around the globe –– the mutation and reconciliation of different localities under the technological boom and the metamorphosis of economic and geopolitical relations. The ports of the archipelagoes are specimens that ground Zhang’s research, forming an entangled web of evidence that demystifies issues of economy, migration and oceanic history. The eventual archives coalesce a visual narration of archipelago historicity and contemporarity.

Through a series of interplay between communication technologies, forests and islands, Ray, Telegram and Semaphore traces the historical connotations and geophysical reverberance embedded in Kulangsu, an island on the Southeast coastline of China. The project probes the colonial traces of communication technology, its gradual transformation and encryption when localized, delineating a chain of temporal evidence that reflects the historical imagination and contemporary conditions of the island.

Now, the project is divided into three chapters.

In the first chapter, the ray lights the island, demystifying its forests and coastlines. The lit ray follows the footsteps of the “explorer” wandering in ruins, kneading the island’s past, where it was a destination for “international settlement” in the 20th century, a time when nighttime lighting was considered an “advanced” import to the island.

Chapter two is composed of two installation works, spotlighting the Great Northern Telegraphy Company, one of the historical sites on the island. Through archaeological interrogations of archives, texts and images, slow-scan TV and transmission technologies, the chapter unveil the passive emergence of Kulangsu into the Eurasian telegraph network, querying the alternating forces of communication infrastructures in relation to local history.

The final chapter highlights the use of semaphores, a standard marine communication technology. The conjunction of photo-based and installation works seeks to recompose the mundane and historical encounters of North American voyagers as speculative specimens that bare the invisible correlation between marine communication and archipelago narrative spaces.

This 2022 Jimei X Arles  international Photo Festival Artist Residency Program supports the project. The newest chapter is still in progress.

光线，电报，旗语

此项目为长期摄影项目“回响”的一个部分。

自2018年起，张北辰开始进行了他系列创作“回响”，该项目关注了全球数个海岛区域的物理，地理现实与历史之间的所面临的新关系。描述了不同国家的“海岛”——这些特殊的地理区位如何在新的科技，金融与地缘变化中展现出新的模式并与历史纠葛达成和解。张将不同地区的海岛与港口，作为自己研究与创作的样本，把自己创作的数个相关项目组成了一个具象的集证系统。在横向创作中，调查诸多与海岛经济相关的物，人群移动的系统议题；在纵向图像研究中，挖掘每个项目背后的海岛或者海洋历史并引申为现实系统的视觉投射。

“光线，电报与旗语”聚焦在了中国东南海岸线的鼓浪屿，项目搜寻了“光线”“电报”“旗语”等一系列通信手段与丛林、土地及鼓浪屿海岛所构建的物理连接与历史联系；探查了这些信息媒介经由探险者传入，在岛民和外来者的共同编排下进行交换和重组的过程，进一步梳理了其介质在不同时空中传送与接收的线索，从信息传播路径的层面映射岛屿的历史想象与当下图景。

目前，项目共分成三个章节。

在第一个章节中，灯光信号跟随“探险者”在丛林与历史遗址中游荡，回溯了这座岛屿曾经在20世纪初期作为“国际社区”的过往。彼时，夜间照明系统被视为一种“先进”的发明引入海岛，它们不仅传递出安全的信号，也完成了对岛屿丛林和海岸线的祛魅。

第二章由两部分装置组成，它们以岛屿上的历史遗址——丹麦大北电报站（The Great Northern telegraphy Company）旧址为入口，通过档案、历史文本及行为展开了鼓浪屿大北电报站的历史图像的回溯和想象；基于电报图传技术以及慢扫描信号（ slow scan TV）的发射、传输技术的媒介考古，挖掘了鼓浪屿被动卷入横跨亚欧大陆的电报网络这一事件，观察了通讯基础设施建设对于海岛的历史的永久转变的现象。

第三章用一系列图像与装置构成“旗语”这一海上通讯方式的编码，图像挖掘了北美旅行者的远洋航行日记、天气以及抵达鼓浪屿陆地的历史见闻，以呈现海上信息传递和海岛历史空间的隐秘联系。

本项目是2022年集美阿尔勒国际摄影节在地行动的驻地创作。新的章节将会不久发布。