Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night

Feb 8–Sept 28, 2025

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.

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!

Press Highlights

“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

Publication

Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night

Tom Finkelpearl, Jennie Goldstein, and Pavel S. Pys

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.

Buy publication

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

Installation photography

Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). On wall, from left to right: Suggested Amount of Spoken Language with a Baby Whose Parents Communicate in Sign Language, 2018; How Do You Hold Your Debt, 2022; America’s Debt to Deaf People, 2022; Trauma, LOL, 2020. Center of room: One Week of Lullabies for Roux, 2018. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, ATTENTION, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Pointing, 2022; Pointing, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Mural: Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025). Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Feedback Aftermath, 2012; Pianoiss . . . issmo (Worse Finish), 2012; All. Day., 2012; All. Night., 2012. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Over and Over, 2016; Four Stages, 2016; Too Possessive for Score, 2015; Piano within Piano, 2015; TBD TBC TBA, 2015; Fort of Fortes, 2015; Almost a Score, 2015; Face Opera II, 2013; Excerpt from "Christine Sun Kim" for NOWNESS, 2011; Rehabilitating Silence, 2013. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Aur-Acousmatic, 2017; Post-Acousmatic, 2017; Scrib-Acousmatic, 2017; Arch-Acousmatic, 2017; Ambi-Acousmatic, 2017; Mega-Acousmatic, 2017; Feedback Aftermath, 2012; Pianoiss . . . issmo (Worse Finish), 2012; Close Readings, 2015; Over and Over, 2016; Four Stages, 2016; Too Possessive for Score, 2015; Piano within Piano, 2015; TBD TBC TBA, 2015; Fort of Fortes, 2015; Almost a Score, 2015. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Mural: Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025). On wall, clockwise from top left: Future Tells Bad Knock-Knock Jokes, 2016; Hockney Future, 2016; Future with White Privileges, 2016; Future with Certified Sign Language Interpreters, 2016; Good Grief Future, 2016; Future Does the Biles, 2016; Future Gets Sleepy, 2016; Futurist Future, 2016; Denim Future, 2016; Future Attempts to Hearsplain, 2016; Future Attempts to Deafsplain, 2016; No Future, 2016; Rhyme Pattern Future, 2016; Future Gets High on Caffeine, 2016; McFuture, 2016; Too Much Future, 2016; Future Gets Paranoid, 2016; Future with Sound Privileges, 2016; Kapoor Future, 2016; Future Schmuture, 2016. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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
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: Shit Hearing People Say to Me, 2019; Cues on Point, 2022; How to Measure Quietness, 2014; How to Measure Loudness, 2014; Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025); Future Base, 2016. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025); All Day All Night, 2023; Cues on Point, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Over and Over, 2016; Four Stages, 2016; Too Possessive for Score, 2015; Piano within Piano, 2015; TBD TBC TBA, 2015; Fort of Fortes, 2015; Almost a Score, 2015; Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025); 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; The Sound of Being Spaced Out, 2016; The Sound of Being Resigned, 2016; Aur-Acousmatic, 2017; Post-Acousmatic, 2017; Scrib-Acousmatic, 2017; Arch-Acousmatic, 2017; Ambi-Acousmatic, 2017; Mega-Acousmatic, 2017. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). A String of Echo Traps, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Competing Languages I, 2020; Three Tables III (AGB, HPA, DTS), 2020; Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Looky Looky, 2018; Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, ATTENTION, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Small Echo, 2022; Small Echo, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Projection: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Palm Reader, 2020. Through door, from left to right: Competing Languages I, 2020; Three Tables III (AGB, HPA, DTS), 2020; Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, ATTENTION, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Mural: Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025). Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Mural: Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025). From left to right: How to Measure Quietness, 2014; How to Measure Loudness, 2014; Future Base, 2016; Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Tables and Windows, 2016. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Face Opera II, 2013; Todd Selby, Excerpt from "Christine Sun Kim" for NOWNESS, 2011; Selby Square, 2011; Rehabilitating Silence, 2013. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Mural: Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025). From left to right: Future Base, 2016; The Star-Spangled Banner, 2020; Screen Real Estate for ASL Interpreters, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 (re-created 2025). Photograph by Ron Amstutz
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: Pointing, 2022; Long Echo, 2022; Pointing, 2022; Pointing, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 8-July 6, 2025). On left, clockwise from top left: Aur-Acousmatic, 2017; Scrib-Acousmatic, 2017; Ambi-Acousmatic, 2017; Mega-Acousmatic, 2017; Arch-Acousmatic, 2017; Post-Acousmatic, 2017. From left to right: Feedback Aftermath, 2012; Pianoiss . . . issmo (Worse Finish), 2012. Photograph by Ron Amstutz