Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night

Through Sept 21

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On view
Floors -1, 1, 3, 8

Open: Feb 8–Sept 21, 2025

In works full of sharp wit and incisive commentary, Christine Sun Kim (b. 1980, Orange County, California) engages sound and the complexities of communication in its various modes. Using musical notation, infographics, and language—both in her native American Sign Language (ASL) and written English—she has produced drawings, videos, sculptures, and installations that often explore non-auditory, political dimensions of sound. In many works, Kim draws directly on the spatial dynamism of ASL, translating it into graphic form. By emphasizing images, the body, and physical space, she upends the societal assumption that spoken languages are superior to those that are signed. 

This exhibition surveys Kim’s entire artistic output to date and features works ranging from early 2010s performance documentation to her recent site-responsive mural, Ghost(ed) Notes (2024), re-created across multiple walls on the eighth floor. Inspired by similarly named works made throughout her career, the exhibition’s title, All Day All Night, points to the vitality Kim brings to her artmaking; she is relentlessly experimental, productive, and dedicated to sharing her Deaf lived experiences with others.

This exhibition is organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. The organizing curators are Jennie Goldstein, Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator of the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art; Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collections Strategy, Walker Art Center; and Tom Finkelpearl, independent curator; with Rose Pallone, Curatorial Assistant, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Brandon Eng, Curatorial Assistant, Walker Art Center.

Major support for Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night is provided by the Ford Foundation, Teiger Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

       

Significant support is provided by the Korea Foundation.

In New York, the exhibition is sponsored by

Major support is provided by Judy Hart Angelo and the Whitney’s National Committee.

Significant support is provided by Marcia Dunn and Jonathan Sobel, the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation, Miyoung Lee and Neil Simpkins, and Sueyun and Gene Locks.

Generous support is provided by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Further Forward Foundation, Peter H. Kahng, the Samsung Foundation of Culture, and Sonya Yu.

Additional support is provided by Jessica and Marwan Bitar, The Cowles Charitable Trust, The Freedman Family, Girlfriend Fund, Suzanne McFayden, Alice and Manu Sareen, Lisa Perry/Onna House, Gina H. Sohn and Gregory P. Lee, Jackson Tang, and an anonymous donor.

En español

Todo el día, toda la noche

A través de obras llenas de agudeza, ingeniosidad y comentarios incisivos, Christine Sun Kim (n. 1980, Orange County, California) aborda el sonido y las complejidades de la comunicación en sus diversas formas. Utilizando la notación musical, la infografía y el lenguaje, tanto en su lengua natal de lenguaje de señas estadounidense (ASL) como en inglés escrito, la artista ha producido dibujos, videos, esculturas e instalaciones que con frecuencia exploran las dimensiones no auditivas, y políticias, del sonido. En muchas obras, Kim se basa directamente en el dinamismo espacial del ASL, para traducirlo a formas gráficas. En otras, utiliza ángulos geométricos o gráficas circulares para llevar un registro visual de las emociones e impresiones personales de la crianza de una familia, aprovechando este enfoque por su inmediatez comunicativa. Al enfatizar la imagen, el cuerpo y el espacio físico, ella cuestiona la presunción social de que los lenguajes hablados son superiores a los lenguajes de señas.

Esta exposición explora toda la producción artística de Kim hasta la fecha y presenta obras que van desde la documentación de sus performances de principios de 2010 hasta su reciente mural que responde al sitio, Notas Fantasma (2024), recreado sobre las paredes de este piso. Inspirada en obras de nombre similar realizadas a lo largo de su carrera, el título de la exposición, Todo el día, toda la noche, resalta la vitalidad con que Kim impregna a su práctica artística: es incansablemente experimental, productiva y dedicada a compartir sus experiencias vividas como persona sorda.

Black and white cover with "Whitney," "Christine Sun Kim," and "Look Think Create Activity Guide" in bold and handwritten fonts.
Christine Sun Kim Activity Guide

Activity Guide

An activity guide filled with projects that Kim made with the Whitney's Education Department. The projects respond to works in the exhibition that you can enjoy during your visit!

Artworks

Chart titled "Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World" with various types of rage depicted as angles, each labeled with specific grievances.

1

Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World, 2018

Art gallery with framed sketches on white walls. A row of colorful cushions with headphones is placed on the wooden floor.

2

One Week of Lullabies for Roux, 2018

Art gallery wall with framed sketches and a display case of small sculptures on a wooden floor.

3

The Grid of Prefixed Acousmatics, 2017

Abstract artwork with a large, dark, curved line across a white background. Small handwritten text is visible near the center.

4

All. Day., 2012

Art gallery with abstract beige shape on wall, musical notes on left, and two digital screens on right. Light wood flooring.

5

All Day All Night, 2023

Spacious art gallery with wooden floors, featuring abstract paintings and a bench. Walls adorned with musical note patterns.

6

Cues on Point, 2022

Text titled "How to Measure Quietness" with decreasing "P" symbols representing levels from "Panic" to "Sleep."

7

How to Measure Quietness, 2014

Art gallery with framed drawings on white walls, wooden floor, and two video screens displaying images.

8

Face Opera II, 2013

Art gallery with musical staff lines and notes painted on walls, featuring framed abstract drawings arranged in a grid on a wooden floor.

9

Future Base, 2016

Art gallery with white walls featuring black wavy lines and musical notes. Large windows overlook a river. Text reads "Christine Sun Kim."

10

Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025)

A digital display with a starry design hangs in a stairwell, showing the word "ECHO TRAP."

11

A String of Echo Traps, 2022
Gallery with two abstract paintings featuring black and white wave patterns on a black wall, wooden floor, and track lighting.

12

Prolonged Echo, 2023 (re-created 2025)

Two long red arms extend from opposite walls, pointing at a textured stone in the center. A bench is placed in the foreground.

13

ATTENTION, 2022

Hallway with a sign showing a pipe and hand, text reads "ALL DAY ALL NIGHT."

14

Palm Reader, 2020

Abstract drawing with three nested rectangles. Text reads "Alexander Graham Bell," "Hearing People Anxiety," and "Dinner Table Syndrome."

15

Three Tables III (AGB, HPA, DTS), 2020

Comparison of phrases: "No way," "I did," "Stop," "Quit it," "Knock it off," "Too much," "Nooo" vs. "Finish" in Deaf English.

16

No Way, Finish, 2018

Black lines form a rectangular pattern with dots at the ends. Text reads "ACTS MY VOICE BE LIKE ROYGBIV" at the bottom.

17

My Voice Acts Like ROYGBIV, 2015

Events

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Mobile guides

Art gallery room with six abstract black and white framed artworks on white walls, wooden floor, and a simple bench in the center.
Art gallery room with six abstract black and white framed artworks on white walls, wooden floor, and a simple bench in the center.

Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). From left to right: Degrees of Deaf Rage in Everyday Situations, 2018; Degrees of Institutional Deaf Rage, 2018; Degrees of Deaf Rage While Traveling, 2018; Degrees of Deaf Rage within Educational Settings, 2018; Degrees of Deaf Rage Concerning Interpreters (Terps), 2018; Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World, 2018. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night
Floor 8

Learn more about selected works from artists and curators.

View guide
Gallery with two abstract paintings featuring black and white wave patterns on a black wall, wooden floor, and track lighting.
Gallery with two abstract paintings featuring black and white wave patterns on a black wall, wooden floor, and track lighting.

Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Mural: Prolonged Echo, 2023 (re-created 2025). From left to right: Long Echo, 2022; Long Echo, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night
Floor 3

Learn more about selected works from artists and curators.

View guide
Abstract drawing with three nested rectangles. Text reads "Alexander Graham Bell," "Hearing People Anxiety," and "Dinner Table Syndrome."
Abstract drawing with three nested rectangles. Text reads "Alexander Graham Bell," "Hearing People Anxiety," and "Dinner Table Syndrome."

Christine Sun Kim, Three Tables III (AGB, HPA, DTS), 2020. Charcoal on paper, 58 1/4 × 58 1/4 in. (148 × 148 cm). Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. University purchase, Bixby Fund, 2023. © Christine Sun Kim

Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night
Floor 1

Learn more about selected works from artists and curators.

View guide

Exhibition Catalogue

Poster with "Christine Sun Kim" at the top, a black brushstroke on the left, and "ALL DAY" at the bottom with quotes around "ALL."
Poster with "Christine Sun Kim" at the top, a black brushstroke on the left, and "ALL DAY" at the bottom with quotes around "ALL."

Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night Catalogue cover

This volume surveys Christine Sun Kim’s works across painting, sculpture, drawing, moving image, performance, large-scale murals and collaborations with other artists made between 2011 and 2024. Kim’s practice considers how sound operates in society, deconstructing the politics of sound and exploring how oral languages operate as social currency. Identifying as Deaf and Korean American, Kim draws on musical notation, written language, infographics, American Sign Language (ASL) and the use of the body, strategically deploying humor to examine communication with her family and her community and to create new channels of dialogue with wide audiences.

Published alongside the traveling exhibition, All Day All Night is brimming with supplementary texts from curators, artists and scholars, including an interview between Christine Sun Kim and exhibition curators Tom Finkelpearl, Jennie Goldstein and Pavel S. Pys; scholarly contributions by Seth Kim-Cohen, Jeffrey Yasuo Mansfield and Park McArthur; and an intimate artist timeline compiled by Brandon Eng and Rose Pallone. A substantial plate section follows these enriching text contributions.

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In the News

“Christine Sun Kim shines light on Deaf culture and measures sonic experience beyond the ear.” —The New York Times

“Kim’s Whitney survey is the first major museum show to allow an artist confronting disability to be as expansive as she is…” —Art in America

“...pushes the bounds of language and upends notions about how we connect with one another.” —The Wall Street Journal

“...explores the social currency of sound and its exclusionary effects.” —SSENSE

“...feels thorough, insightful and composed…” —The Guardian

“...fascinating and thought-provoking as it is expansive.” —Artnet News

“...like a kind of revenge on a society that has long passed over disabled artists… revenge at its most gripping.” —New York Magazine

“...groundbreaking exhibition – utilizing sound, language, and the nuances and challenges of communication…” —Forbes

“New Yorkers, don’t miss Christine Sun Kim’s first museum survey…”  —AnOther

“...perceptive, poetic, humorous, and political.”  —Ocula

“...expresses how sound operates in society as social currency and deconstructs the politics of sound in a witty manner.”  —The Korea Herald

“...a homecoming of sorts…” —Robb Report

“...the expansive retrospective shines a light on Kim’s exploration of Deaf lived experiences…”  —Hypebeast

“...iterates…how wondrous, devastating, exhausting, not enough, too much, funny, and beautiful language can be.” —Hyperallergic

“...underscores the ongoing need for accessible and inclusive cultural spaces…” —Ocula

“...alert[s] us to the nuances and poetry, the joy and bitterness of living in, and also outside, the hearing world.”  —Financial Times

“Kim's trademark wit abounds as she explores the politics of sound, and the visual-spatial modality of her native ASL.” —Harper’s Bazaar

“Go now—it’s a triumph.” —Cultured

“[Kim] is on a whole different level” —Interview Magazine

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.