This catalogue accompanies Map Office's 'The Chinese Box', an exhibition held at Officine Farneto, Rome from April to May 2010. Presenting a collection of recent work by Map Office, a Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary platform established in 1996 by French architects/artists Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix, 'The Chinese Box' is a site-specific project showcasing Map Office's urban-anthropological investigation at the space arrangement designed by IaN+. The relationship between landscapes of contemporary China and its inhabitants is explored through photographs, drawings, comics, videos and objects.

This book comprises essays by the curators and other contributors in bilingual. The volume is closed by a conversation between Map Office and Ai Weiwei. Artist biographies included.