Christine Sun Kim has crafted a renowned practice that considers how sound operates in society, deconstructing the politics of sound and exploring how oral languages operate as social currency.
2025 Biennial Year Find out more
Musical notation, written language, infographics, American Sign Language (ASL), the use of the body, and strategically deployed humor are all recurring elements in her practice. Working across drawing, performance, video and large scale murals, Kim explores her relationship to spoken and signed languages, to her built and social environments, and to the world at large.
Kim has exhibited and performed internationally, including at the Gwangju Biennale (2023); Secession, Vienna (2023); Queens Museum, New York (2022); the Drawing Center, New York (2022); the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2021); Manchester International Festival, Manchester (2021); MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (2020); Whitney Biennial, New York (2019); Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo (2019); Art Institute of Chicago (2018); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2017); De Appel Arts Center, Amsterdam (2017); Berlin Biennale (2016); Shanghai Biennale (2016); MoMA PS1, New York (2015) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013), among numerous others. Kim’s awards and fellowships include an MIT Media Lab Fellowship, a United States Artists fellowship, a Ford and Mellon Foundations’ Disabilities Future Fellowship, and the Prix International d’Art Contemporain of the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco. Her works are held in numerous prominent collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, LACMA, Tate Britain, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. She is represented by François Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles and WHITE SPACE in Beijing. Kim lives and works in Berlin.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
Christine Sun Kim
‘Why Your Hearing Parents Did Not Learn Sign Language’, 2019
‘Essence to Essence’, 2020
‘See Zero’, 2019
Christine Sun Kim’s infographic drawings consider how sound operates in society. They explore the artist’s own lived experience and her relationship to spoken and signed languages.
The artist uses humour as a tool to deliver pointed social critique, highlighting the cultural, social and historical bias, oppression, and exclusion against d/Deaf people, and the resulting anger and trauma.
For example, in ‘Why Your Hearing Parents Did Not Learn Sign Language’ (2019) the area apportioned to nearly half of the pie chart references Alexander Graham Bell, a figure who was intent on eradicating sign language and d/Deaf teachers from schools in the United States. His focus on oralism has persistent
‘Why Your Hearing Parents Did Not Learn Sign Language’, 2019 ‘Essence to Essence’, 2020 ‘See Zero’, 2019 Christine Sun Kim’s infographic drawings consider how sound operates in society. They explore the artist’s own lived experience and her relationship to spoken and signed languages. The artist uses humour as a tool to deliver pointed social critique, highlighting the cultural, social and historical bias, oppression, and exclusion against d/Deaf people, and the resulting anger and trauma. For example, in ‘Why Your Hearing Parents Did Not Learn Sign Language’ (2019) the area apportioned to nearly half of the pie chart references Alexander Graham Bell, a figure who was intent on eradicating sign language and d/Deaf teachers from schools in the United States. His focus on oralism has persistent repercussions. ‘See Zero’ reflects the toll a diaristic practice takes on the artist; while some of her works are dense with information and feeling, ‘See Zero’ could be read as saying “nothing to see here”. In dialogue with abstraction and minimalism, this piece allows the artist to rest from exhausting practice of having to make herself understood. Kim’s works highlight the importance of socio-historical factors in privileging spoken over signed language yet also include highly personal reasons and references. They advocate for the value and authority of lived experiences, as well as signalling the absurdity of trying to capture highly complex determining forces and deep-rooted historical bias in the form of simple infographics. Why Your Hearing Parents Did Not Learn Sign Language’ courtesy of Tate. Lent by the Tate Americas Foundation, courtesy of Abigail Baratta 2021. L04532. ‘Essence to Essence’ and ‘See Zero’ courtesy of the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, New York. Showing at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
Christine Sun Kim
Showing at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
Monday to Sunday 10.00am-5:50pm-
Christine Sun Kim at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North, Liverpool Biennial 2025. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
Venue
Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
21 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BPAccess facilities available
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