23–116. Xu Bing, Book from the Ground

A graphic novel narrates the story of a day in the life of an urban worker told entirely in ideographic signs of wayfinding, corporate, chemical, food, game, insignias, and instructional signs that challenge conventional readings of visual language and Chinese calligraphy in particular. The work recalls Ilia Zdanevich’s 1923 book Le-Dantiu as a Beacon and James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses.