CHRISTINE SUN KIM

Life

Christine Sun Kim was born in California, USA, in 1980. She received a BS in Applied Science and Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York in 2002. Kim later pursued further studies, graduating with MFAs from New York-based School of Visual Arts in 2006 and Bard College in 2013.

Aside from her work as an artist, Kim has also been involved in activism and co-created <0/ , an open source symbol for ‘Deaf Power.’ In 2020, she became the first Asian American to sign the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Her op-ed published in the New York Times speaks to her disappointment in the visibility of her performance on major news channels and the work that needs to be done in terms of access for those with disabilities.

Christine Sun Kim Artworks

Born Deaf, Kim’s artworks across paper, installation, performance, and audio explore the social hierarchies of sound, speaking to the complexity of Deaf culture and social gaps between the Deaf and hearing. Originally working as a painter, Kim began to tap into sound as a crucial element to her work after a residency in Berlin in 2008. She has since utilised notation, translation, and humor throughout her body of work to deconstruct the unseen and often neglected systems behind sound.

Notation and illustration

Kim has investigated the role of interpretation and the polyphonic voices in understanding her own relationship with access, education, and information. Taking inspiration from musical scores, Kim has integrated and reinterpreted American Sign Language (ASL) through visual and illustrative notation. Works such as All. Day. (2012) depicts the semi-circular motion used to sign the phrase ‘all day’ in ASL. The centre of the piece reveals the musical symbol used for rest along with the number 126,144,000, approximating how many rest bars would amount to over three-decades of silence that Kim has experienced as a Deaf person.

She has also explored scale in her work, occasionally working with large illustrations and murals that engulf and respond to space. Kim’s murals Echo Trap (2015) in Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt and Time Owes Me Rest Again (2022) in Queens Museum, New York display the movement of hands in signing “echo” and “time owes me rest again” across large walls in the museum. Through these works, Kim creates immersive, punchy, and mischievous illustrative choreographies that powerfully address and amplify the Deaf experience and the intricacies of signing as an evolving language.

Performance

Kim has also used performance to explore the politics of sound in her work. In Nap Disturbance (2016), she and a group of both Deaf and hearing performers worked with everyday objects to interrogate their sonic qualities. Kim draws attention to the ‘accidental sounds’ that Deaf people make at home and are expected to stifle by increasing the volume and intensity of everyday objects. Another work, Subjective Loudness (2013) Kim installed speakers and microphones on seats of the amphitheater, inviting 200 people to recite and vocalise a series of word scores, challenging the decibel regulations of the site.

Exhibitions

Christine Sun Kim has held solo exhibitions at the Secession, Vienna; Queens Museum, New York; and Somerset House, London. Her first major survey will be held at the Whitney Museum, New York in 2025. Kim’s work has been included in group exhibitions at the SFMoMA, San Francisco; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Gwangju Biennale; and MoMA PS1. Her work has been collected by major institutions such as Museum of Modern Art, New York; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and Tate Britain, London.

Website and Instagram

Christine Sun Kim’s website can be found here while her Instagram can be found here.

Arianna Mercado | Ocula | 2024