This project treats the SOS signal as a technical form of communication rather than a symbolic image. While SOS messages are often understood through crisis narratives and visual representations, this research shifts focus to the conditions under which these signals are received, weakened, or rendered ineffective. Beginning with an investigation into maritime SOS transmissions, the project gradually expands into broader territories, exploring how communication systems construct the possibility of being heard.

This work regards “unreceived” as an objective condition of technology and infrastructure, not a moral failing or lack of response. Radio communication relies on factors such as frequency, signal strength, distance, and environmental interference. Before human decision-making intervenes, these parameters themselves often cause communication failure. By focusing on these limitations, the project redefines silence—not as absence, but as a product shaped by everyday communication technology.