Tone in Tongue
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tone in Tongue
Press Release
July 18–November 14, 2025
Presented by Radical Characters
Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Shanghai
Radical Characters presents the launch of Tone in Tongue, a multi-venue international exhibition running from July 18 to November 14, 2025, hosted across Otis College of Art and Design, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and the Shanghai Research Institute of Printing Technology.
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, 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. In the Unicode system, such characters belong to the CJK Unified Ideographs—not merely a technical standard, but a reflection of the collective imprint of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese writing traditions. As a shared character that transforms across time and traverses geographic and cultural boundaries, Tone in Tongue offers a point of entry open to multiple interpretations: What does it mean to share a “common language” in contemporary design?
Top to bottom: Risograph posters by Daijiro Ohara, Can Yang, and Sulki & Min
Along this intricate vein, the exhibition invites participants to explore both the shared ground and the distinct nuances within East Asian visual communication. Presented in four parts, Tone in Tongue features the work of 50 international designers and 100 publications. The exhibition includes commissioned posters by international studios; contributions from emerging practitioners selected through an open call; a curated collection of independent publications; and a design magazine tour that traces evolving perspectives on East Asian graphic design over the past two decades—with selections from the archives of Design360° (China), GRAPHIC (South Korea), and idea magazine (Japan).
Through these diverse voices and mediums, designers and scholars reflect on inherited aesthetics while engaging with contemporary issues of identity, coexistence, resistance, and belonging. The exhibition travels and evolves across cities, countries, and continents. 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.
Exhibition Participants
Common Tone: Risograph as Shared Ground
Risograph Posters by International Studios
Agata Yamaguchi, collé inc., BOWYER (Hwayoung Lee & Sangjoon Hwang), Can Yang, Hyunsun You, Jaemin Lee, Kenichi Kuromaru, Kotaro Mitsuhashi, LAVA Amsterdam, LAVA Beijing, LOW sek-vai (Shuowei Lao), Meat Studio, Ohara Daijiro, Ordinary People, Related Department, Studio Pianpian He and Max Harvey, Sulki & Min, Sun Yao 孙尧, Synoptic Office (Caspar Lam & YuJune Park), Yuan Wang 王远, and Yuki Kameguchi & Ian Lynam
New Tone: Community, Voice, and Identity
Emerging Designers & Artists
Edinam Amewode, James H. Chae, Jingyu Feng, Hongshuang Fu 傅弘双, Hyning Gan, Xuanjie Huang, Arnon Karnkaeng, Wylie Kasai, Eugime Lee, Jane Lee, Yi Zhen Leong, Andy Li, Zhiyuan Li, Angela Lian, Will Liang, Sherry (Yuxuan) Lin, Irene Liu, Yi Mao, Thai Bao Nguyen, Jiaxi Pan, Desmond Pang, Tongji Philip Qian, Hongzhou Wan, Shuang Wu, Yi Wu, Priscilla Young, Jia Yu, Ivan Zhao, Xinran Zhou, and Nicole Zhu
Independent Tone: Publishing as Dialogue
Independent Publications
1413 Magazine, Ah Thote Sone Foresight, dmp editions, Ding Ding Publications (HK), How Many Books, KCL Publishing House Ltd, Lettel Books, National Culture and Arts Foundation, ori.studio, Page Bureau, Publication Studio Pearl River Delta, [soft] Magazine/openART Studio, te editions, Temporary Press, Untitled Folder, and yáo collaborative
Tone in Print: Evolving Graphic Design Perspectives in East Asia from 2005 to Present
Design Magazine Tour
Design360° (China), GRAPHIC (South Korea), and idea magazine (Japan)
Exhibition Locations & Dates
- Otis College of Art and Design
- (July 18–August 13)
- Bolsky Gallery
- 9045 Lincoln Blvd
- Los Angeles, CA 90045
Shanghai Research Institute of Printing Technology
(August 10–October 10)
1209-60 Xinzha Road
Shanghai, China 200041
Maryland Institute College of Art
(October 20–November 14)
Bronze Gallery
Brown Center, 3rd Floor
1301 W Mt Royal Ave
Baltimore, MD 21217
Exhibition Team
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)
Editing (Chinese) by Yao Meng
Exhibition design by Midnight Project (Weiyun Chen & Supatida Sutiratana), Jialun Wang, Shuang Wu, and Xinran Zhou
About Radical Characters
Radical Characters is a platform dedicated to exploring speculative connections between design and culture within and beyond the Chinese and Chinese American communities. We operate as a study group and curatorial project initiating projects focused on graphic design, typography, and culture through Hanzi (Chinese characters). Our projects extend into the forms of exhibitions, publication, lectures, and workshops.
Tone in Tongue is the second curatorial project initiated by Radical Characters. This exhibition seeks to expand dialogues on shared cultural motifs and speculative identities within the decentralized design context.
Institutional Partners
Tone in Tongue is a collaborative initiative between Radical Characters, Otis College of Art and Design, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Shanghai Research Institute of Printing Technology, and IS A Gallery, with additional support from Boston University College of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts.