The life of signs a century of pictograms by artists and designers from Otto Neurath to Harun Farocki What are the broader aims and aspirations implied by the development of icons and emojis since the modernist era What historical issues inform them Do they expand our possibilities of expression or do they limit them with stereotypes The Society of Signs examines lexicons and systems of pictorial signs devised by designers and artists such as Gerd Arntz Marie and Otto Neurath Otl Aicher Yukio Ot