“阅读不可读之物: 文字所代表的定义让我有些害怕”

“Reading the Unreadable: The definitions represented by words frighten me a little.”

Concept & Intention

Our central goal is to construct a physical "book" of your words and characters. Each page will consist of a single character rendered in fine copper wire, permanently fused between two sheets of our specialized milky glass. All pages will be crafted to a unified standard dimension so they fit perfectly within a custom, handcrafted wooden box. When housed together, the container and pages form the complete physical volume titled “阅读不可读之物: 文字所代表的定义让我有些害怕” “Reading the Unreadable: The definitions represented by words frighten me a little.”

Exhibition Vision & Dual Editions

For museum/gallery presentations, the pages will be displayed unframed in strict sequential order along a long exhibition table—inviting viewers to move past them as if turning the pages of an ancient manuscript. To preserve the integrity of the core book while supporting the project's funding, we will produce select offshoots, including intimate miniature versions and larger, framed individual pages for key backers and collectors.

Crucially, we will produce exactly two complete editions of the book: Edition 1 permanently archived in China, and Edition 2 in North America. We will curate a simultaneous, dual-location exhibition where both copies are displayed over the same timeframe. A live video stream will connect the two galleries, allowing audiences in China and North America to watch each other experience and react to the work in real time across continents. In this way, the book becomes a live conduit, bridging geographical distance, language, and the fear of definitions.

Process & Publication

Artist Statement: Noah James Saunders

Working in such close, soul-to-soul proximity to Li Ling’s creative process takes me back to the very origins of my relationship with line and mark-making.

When I was six years old, in the first grade, I was labeled "retarded" and told repeatedly that I would never learn to read at my age level—that the realm of words, their power, and their joy would remain forever closed to me. Around that same time, a young girl in my class from Taiwan began teaching me a few Chinese characters. Unable to access traditional books, I would venture outside, gather massive scales of pine tree bark used in neighborhood landscaping, and use them like chalk to draw these characters across the cement driveways in my neighborhood.

In that moment of profound isolation, this "invented script" became my hidden power. Where traditional language felt like a wall designed to exclude me, these drawn marks became my sanctuary and my voice.

Collaborating with Li Ling on “阅读不可读之物” “Reading the Unreadable” reclaims that early instinct. Translating his characters into copper and glass is not merely an exercise in visual design; it is a return to language as a physical, emotional, and liberating gesture—a way of stepping beyond the rigid limiting definitions bestowed upon me as a child by reclaiming the hidden power of the mark.