Christine Sun Kim
GOETHE-INSTITUT X SOMERSET HOUSE STUDIOS RESIDENCY 2023
Christine Sun Kim’s practice considers how sound operates in society, deconstructing the politics of sound and exploring how oral languages operate as social currency. 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 languages, to her built and social environments, and to the world at large.
Christine's three month residency from January to April 2023 was part of Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy, a returning series focusing on individual and collective health and wellbeing through a programme of newly commissioned artworks, films, workshops, and conversations. The focus of the year surrounded disability justice and artists who engage with the space of health and care.
Tackling the wellness trends and the mythology of the ‘good body’ and its interconnectedness with capitalism, Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy (HF,UH) seeked to explore its perceived binary opposite – ‘sickness’. HF,UH aimed to explore an inclusive framework of existence for all via the voices who encounter systemic oppression and stigmatisation around disability, chronic illness and mental health.
The series asked how can we imagine and shape a future where meaningful care and resistance are thought of as standard? Where all bodies and lives are centred – not existing in ‘othered’ relation to white supremacist, patriarchal, ableist culture – but are represented and celebrated on their own terms?
Christine's three month residency from January to April 2023 was part of Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy, a returning series focusing on individual and collective health and wellbeing through a programme of newly commissioned artworks, films, workshops, and conversations. The focus of the year surrounded disability justice and artists who engage with the space of health and care.
Tackling the wellness trends and the mythology of the ‘good body’ and its interconnectedness with capitalism, Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy (HF,UH) seeked to explore its perceived binary opposite – ‘sickness’. HF,UH aimed to explore an inclusive framework of existence for all via the voices who encounter systemic oppression and stigmatisation around disability, chronic illness and mental health.
The series asked how can we imagine and shape a future where meaningful care and resistance are thought of as standard? Where all bodies and lives are centred – not existing in ‘othered’ relation to white supremacist, patriarchal, ableist culture – but are represented and celebrated on their own terms?
In conversation with Christine Sun Kim
Born in Southern California, Kim has been residing in Germany’s capital for the last 10 years with her husband Thomas Mader, and daughter Roux. However, for the next three months, they will be calling South Kensington home.Kim is an internationally acclaimed sound artist whose works have been displayed by a plethora of galleries including White Space (Beijing), MoMA (New York), Art Institute (Chicago), François Ghebaly Gallery (Los Angeles) De Appel Arts Center (Amsterdam) and LACMA (Los Angeles). Far from a stranger to London, Kim has been represented here many times already. In 2019, we supported her Art Night commission “We Mean Business” - a collaboration with students at Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children in King’s Cross. Her work has also been shown at eminent institutions such as the Tate and the now-closed Caroll/Fletcher gallery in Soho.
Whilst she joins us here in London for her residency, her exhibition Cues on Point is being presented from the 17th of February until the 16th of April 2023 at Secession in Vienna. For Secession, Kim will produce a book that contains empty scores drawn by a variety of artist friends (54 contributors) as well as her husband and daughter.
Part 1 and 2 of her interviews can be found below:
