After all, signs are material; they are primarily things, objects in the world. Just as real, material, and finite are such sign carriers as books, paintings, films, computers, museums, and libraries, as well as stones, animals, humans, societies, and nation-states. All operations of the medial sign economy are exclusively conducted among such finite media carriers–and this exhausts the possibilities of how to deal with signs.

Boris Groys, Under Suspicion p.33