i am (2026) — Timjune

i am is an ongoing multimedia project comprising multichannel video and sound installation, photographic installation, and performance. Through the figure of the human lighthouse, the work presents repeated acts of signalling as gestures of presence across remote landscapes.

The project draws on lighthouses, whose recurring flashes of light guide and warn across remote and uncertain coastal landscapes. The distinctive rhythm and frequency of each beacon’s flashes give it a recognisable character, signalling its identity in the darkness. At the fleeting moments of twilight, across remote island and coastal landscapes on several continents, artist and vocalist Tianjun Li performs as a human lighthouse, repeatedly signalling the phrase “i am” in Morse code (.. / .- --) through flashes of light, while their voice produces repetitive vocalisations echoing foghorns.

Within the exhibition space, the multichannel installation synchronises flickering light and voice through a shared pulse. Footage from these dispersed locations converges into a polyphonic environment, where solitary acts of signalling enter a collective rhythm. Across the installation, these signals travel from one landscape to another, suggesting a fragile exchange of calls and responses. Through this recurring movement, Li’s repeated act of signalling becomes an affirmation of presence, and an ongoing questioning of existence and identity within vast and uncertain environments.

i am was commissioned by Fruitmarket Gallery in partnership with the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland and will be presented as a solo exhibition at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, from December 2026 to January 2027.

Research and filming took place across remote island and coastal landscapes in Finland, Greenland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Åland, Scotland, England, Ireland and China, with support from Kone Foundation’s Saari Residence, Nordic Culture Point’s B28 Residency, NAPA – The Nordic Institute in Greenland, the Icelandic-Finnish Cultural Foundation, IN SITU Platform, Organum, Hugo Burge Foundation Residency, Áras Éanna Arts Centre Residency, and Culture Moves Europe, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut.

Open Studio, Nordic Culture Point B28 Residency, 2026

Suomenlinna, Finland, 2026

Sisimiut, Nuuk, Illulisat, Greenland, 2026