Radical Characters

Radical Characters presents Tone in Tongue at Maryland Institute College of Art Bronze Gallery October 20–November 14 Brown Center, 3rd Floor 1301 W Mt Royal Ave Baltimore, MD 21217 Culture, like a shadow, shifts over time. The Chinese idiom “如影随形” rú yǐng suí xíng (“as the shadow follows the form”) evokes this fluid, inseparable relationship. Tone in Tongue adopts this metaphor to explore East Asian visual culture, tracing how shared histories and aesthetic identities continue to resonate in contemporary design. Through the lens of graphic design, typography, and independent publishing, the exhibition highlights the tension and harmony between shared language and individual expression across the region. Tone in Tongue, the exhibition title and a play on words, draws from the Hanzi character 同 tóng (together or in common) and is composed of the radicals 凡 fán (all) and 口 kǒu (mouth or gateway), symbolizing a shared language. Presented in four, interconnected parts, Tone in Tongue features the work of 50 international designers and 100 publications, including: ▶ Commissioned posters by international studios ▶ Contributions from emerging practitioners selected through an open call ▶ A curated collection of independent publications ▶ A design magazine tour that traces evolving perspectives on East Asian graphic design over the past two decades featuring Design360° (China), GRAPHIC (South Korea), and idea magazine (Japan) Tone in Tongue is curated and organized by Mary Y. Yang and Zhongkai Li Independent Tone is curated by Mac Naiqian Wang Tone in Print are selected by Design360°’s editorial team, GRAPHIC’s editorial team, and Madoka Nishi (Former Editor-in-Chief of IDEA Magazine) Exhibition design by Shuang Wu and Xinran Zhou Exhibition identity typeset in commonSans (Xiaoyuan Gao, notyourtype foundry) Custom stools designed by Penghui Henry Zhang Installation by Cindy Kim, Andy Li, and Vi Tuong Ngo Photography by Xinran Zhou #RadicalCharacters #ToneinTongue #mica #baltimore

Tone in Tongue is now on view at the Shanghai Research Institute of Printing Technology from August 10 to October 10! 1209-60 Xinzha Road Shanghai, China 200041 Culture, like a shadow, shifts and transforms over time. The Chinese idiom “如影随形” rú yǐng suí xíng (“as the shadow follows the form”) evokes this fluid and intimate relationship—one element inseparably linked to another. Tone in Tongue adopts this metaphor to explore the deep interconnection of East Asian visual culture, tracing how shared histories and distinct, aesthetic identities continue to resonate in contemporary design. Tone in Tongue is curated and organized by Mary Y. Yang @marukie and Zhongkai Li @zhongkai_li Exhibition design by Midnight Project @midnight.project_design (Weiyun Chen & Supatida Sutiratana) 📷: Jiaxi Pan @jx_pan22_peggy

See you all at the Jersey Art Book Fair this weekend at @manacontemporary presented by @itsdense . Visit our table for our newly restocked Language is A Bridge hats, Tone in Tongue limited edition risograph posters, Bilingual Designer Manifesto, Edition II (by @l1hao.zhu ) and more! #jerseyartbookfair #jabfair2026

We are pleased to present Tone in Tongue, Common Tone: Risograph as Shared Ground, one of the exhibition’s four sections, at Bananafish Books in a special edition showcasing 20 international studios and designers working across diverse geographic, multilingual, and multicultural contexts. Using risograph as a material and medium, designers and scholars reflect on inherited aesthetics while engaging with contemporary issues of identity, coexistence, resistance, and belonging. As the shadow follows the form, Tone in Tongue constructs a cross-cultural space not only for reflection, but for resonance—a dynamic site of ongoing dialogue, rooted in shared ground. Dates: April 22 – May 17, 2026 Address: No. 7, Hongbaoshi Road, Changning District, Shanghai Bananafish Books is a pioneering Shanghai-based independent art bookshop and publisher. It is widely recognized as a premier spot for imported international independent publications, rare art zines, and risograph printing, with a focus on supporting small-scale, alternative publishing. Designers featured: Agata Yamaguchi, collé inc. BOWYER (Hwayoung Lee & Sangjoon Hwang)  Can Yang Hyunsun You Jaemin Lee Kenichi Kuromaru Kotaro Mitsuhashi LAVA Amsterdam / Beijing LOW sek-vai (Shuowei Lao) Meat Studio Ohara Daijiro Ordinary People Related Department Studio Pianpian He and Max Harvey Sulki & Min SUN YAO Synoptic Office (Caspar Lam & YuJune Park) Yuan Wang Yuki Kameguchi & Ian Lynam #toneintongue #bananafishbooks #risograph #isagallery #radicalcharacters

See you all @multipleformats tomorrow on Saturday, March 21, 2026, from 11:00 AM–6:00 PM at Boston University’s School of Visual Arts. We have a selection of limited A2 risograph posters, which were featured in our recent Tone in Tongue exhibition for sale! This year’s fair will feature over 140 exhibitors and is free and open to the public. Visual Identity by Lucy Lee, 2027 BFA Candidate in Graphic Design at Boston University. @bu_visualarts #multipleformats #multipleformatsartbookfair

See you all @multipleformats tomorrow on Saturday, March 21, 2026, from 11:00 AM–6:00 PM at Boston University’s School of Visual Arts. Come for our new hats, stay for the conversation about how language is a bridge! 🌈🧢🤝 This year’s fair will feature over 140 exhibitors and is free and open to the public. Visual Identity by Lucy Lee, 2027 BFA Candidate in Graphic Design at Boston University. @bu_visualarts #multipleformats #multipleformatsartbookfair

Join Mary Y. Yang for a closing tour of Tone in Tongue at MICA on Friday, November 14, from 10:00–11:30 AM. The tour will provide an in-depth exploration of the exhibition concept and curatorial approach, highlighting individual works by contemporary design studios and emerging designers who contributed to the show. Conversation, discussion, and questions are encouraged. Open to all MICA community members! Bronze Gallery Brown Center, 3rd Floor 1301 W Mt Royal Ave Baltimore, MD 21217 Tone in Tongue is curated and organized by Mary Y. Yang and Zhongkai Li Independent Tone is curated by Mac Naiqian Wang Tone in Print are selected by Design360°’s editorial team, GRAPHIC’s editorial team, and Madoka Nishi (Former Editor-in-Chief of IDEA Magazine) Exhibition design by Shuang Wu and Xinran Zhou Exhibition identity typeset in commonSans (Xiaoyuan Gao, notyourtype foundry) Custom stools designed by Penghui Henry Zhang Installation by Cindy Kim, Andy Li, and Vi Tuong Ngo Photo by Valentina Soto

Tone in Tongue is now on view at the Maryland Institute College of Art from October 20 to November 14! Culture, like a shadow, shifts and transforms over time. The Chinese idiom “如影随形” rú yǐng suí xíng (“as the shadow follows the form”) evokes this fluid and intimate relationship—one element inseparably linked to another. Tone in Tongue adopts this metaphor to explore the deep interconnection of East Asian visual culture, tracing how shared histories and distinct, aesthetic identities continue to resonate in contemporary design. Tone in Tongue is curated and organized by Mary Y. Yang @marukie and Zhongkai Li @zhongkai_li Exhibition design by Shuang wu @reawakening47 and Xinran Zhou @lmond_x Installation by Cindy Kim @minsuuna , Andy Li @andy1ii , and Vi Tuong Ngo @doublecorn110 Furniture designed by Penghui Henry Zhang @professor_jobs 📷: Xinran Zhou

Join us at Asia Art Archive in America @asiaartarchiveinamerica on October 10th at 6:30 pm for an evening of presentation and conversation. From Letters to Words to Dialogue: Building Collective Language with Radical Characters and Pararailing 📍 Asia Art Archive in America (23 Cranberry St. Brooklyn, NY) 📅 October 10, 2025 🕡 6:30 – 8:00 pm Zhongkai Li @zhongkai_li and I will present on Radical Characters’ current exhibition, Tone in Tongue, in dialogue with Pararailing @____jieshao @xu6ing @xuecanye , who will share about their ongoing project, Railing Codex. Together, we’ll reflect on the origins and ethos of our respective arts collectives and the ways we approach collaboration, language, and community-building. Presentations will follow a loose framework of thinking through larger themes via connection points between letters, characters, words, and dialogue. Following the presentations, participants will join together for a conversation to discuss independent publishing, creative translation(s), cross cultural dialogue and more. The panel will be moderated by designer, publisher, and educator, Scarlett Xin Meng @scarlettxmeng . Thank you to Claire Kim @mediumrareclaire and the team at AAAinA for the invitation and generous support in organizing this event.

Please join us on Friday, October 10th for presentations and a discussion with arts collectives Radical Characters (@radicalcharacters ) and Pararailing (@para_railing ). Founding members of each group will share recent and upcoming projects as well as the origins and ethos of their platforms. Presentations will follow a loose framework of thinking through larger themes via connection points between letters, characters, words, and dialogue. Following the presentations, participants will join together for a conversation to discuss independent publishing, creative translation(s), cross cultural dialogue and more. The panel will be moderated by designer, publisher, and educator, Scarlett Meng (@scarlettxmeng )

Tone in Tongue is currently on view at the Shanghai Research Institute of Printing Technology, the birthplace of modern Chinese fonts and one of China’s earliest type foundries. Established in August 1956, the Institute also played a key role in establishing type design as a profession in China. 📷: Wanjing Li @wanjing_lili