Fresh Out of Graduate School, Christine Sun Kim Helped to Greatly Improve Experiences of Deaf Audiences at the Whitney Museum

Christine Sun Kim gives a tour of “Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night,” her mid-career survey at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and first major museum exhibition. After graduate school, Kim worked in the education department at the Whitney Museum where she helped develop a program of ASL (American Sign Language) tours with Deaf educators for Deaf audiences, as well as an ongoing ASL video project. | Video by Whitney Museum of American Art

AN ARRAY OF EMERGING and established artists were invited to participate in the 2019 Whitney Biennial. Co-curated by Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley, the exhibition featured 75 artists and collectives, including Garrett Bradley, John Edmonds, Janiva Ellis, Kota Ezawa, Brendan Fernandes, Jeffrey Gibson, Tomashi Jackson, Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Martine Syms, among others.

Some of the most fascinating and singular work included in the biennial was an unassuming series of charcoal and oil pastel drawings by Christine Sun Kim. The six works are infographics in the form of pie charts illustrating “Degrees of Deaf Rage” commonly experienced by members of the Deaf community.

Made in 2018, the drawings address a variety of situations in educational settings, traveling, and regarding interpreters, for example. All of the works reflect general experiences, except one. “My Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World,” expresses Kim’s personal frustrations dealing with fellow artists, curators, and museums. She cites “visiting artists who aren’t comfortable with interpreters,” which elicits “obtuse rage” and “curators who think it’s fair to split my salary fee with interpreters” causing “reflex rage.” Her greatest fury is directed at “museums with zero Deaf programming (and no deaf docents/educators)” causing the artist to experience “full on rage.”

A California native who is based in Berlin, Kim was born deaf. Her bio states that her multidisciplinary practice “considers how sound operates in society, deconstructing the politics of sound and exploring how oral languages operate as social currency.”

“In the beginning of my career, I really didn’t want to share the experiences I had lived as a Deaf person. I wanted to share who I was as just an artist.” — Christine Sun Kim

CHRISTINE SUN KIM, “Degrees of Deaf Rage While Traveling,” 2018 (charcoal and oil pastel on paper, 49.25 × 49.25 inches / 125 × 125 cm). | Private Collection. © Christine Sun Kim. Courtesy François Ghebaly Gallery and WHITE SPACE

An artist, activist, and educator, Kim has had a longstanding, nearly two-decade relationship with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. From 2007-14, she was an educator at the museum, where her contributions included groundbreaking Deaf programming. Kim was instrumental in developing and expanding the Whitney Signs program, which provides ASL (American Sign Language) tours led by Deaf educators, and an ASL vlog project. Started in 2011, this aspect of the programming consists primarily of ASL videos in which interpreters discuss a single artwork from the Whitney’s collection.

The videos benefit both the Deaf community and the hearing, who can use closed captioning to understand the ASL presentation. Whitney Museum interpreters have produced a number of ASL videos about works by African American artists, including Charles Alston, Diedrick Brackens, Elizabeth Catlett, Theaster Gates, Simone Leigh, Glenn Ligon, Archibald Motley, and Faith Ringgold. The videos provide a succinct and insightful consideration of each work.

Kim is featured in a couple of early videos. In one, she discussed works featured in “Glenn Ligon: AMERICA,” the artist’s mid-career retrospective. Another, explores a series of “Skin Set Drawings” (2001-2005) by William Pope.L (1955-2023) via an interview with the artist conducted by Kim with the assistance of an ASL interpreter.

New videos continue to be published periodically. They are welcome educational tools that highlight important works from the collection, often on the occasion of their inclusion in major exhibition at the Whitney Museum.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires museums, libraries and galleries to facilitate effective communication with Deaf and hard of hearing audiences with mandates specific to private institutions, state and local entities, and those that receive federal funding. Museums provide a variety of accomodations, including ASL interpretation for public lectures, assistive listening systems in auditoriums, assisted listening devices in exhibition spaces, and in-person ASL tours.

Only a few museums produce ASL videos discussing individual artworks from their collections, which are accessible to audiences anywhere in the world. In addition to the Whitney Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; Jewish Museum in New York; Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; and National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., are among the institutions that do. Interestingly, most of the interpreters featured in the videos are people of color.

Whitney Museum interpreters have produced a number of ASL videos about works by African American artists, including Charles Alston, Diedrick Brackens, Elizabeth Catlett, Theaster Gates, Simone Leigh, Glenn Ligon, Archibald Motley, and Faith Ringgold.

Installation View of “Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y. (Feb. 8-Sept. 21, 2025). Shown, Degrees of Deaf Rage Series, 2018. | Photograph by David Tufino, Courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art

OVER THE PAST DECADE, Kim has remained engaged with the Whitney. She has served as a consultant, installed a public art installation (“Too Much Future,” 2018) that was her first large-scale mural, and participated in the Whitney Biennial in 2019. Currently, “Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night” is on view at the museum through Sept. 21.

The title of the exhibition stems from the artist’s personal experience. “This idea of All Day All Night, speaks to how I work, how I function, how I keep going. And it also speaks to the idea of obsession. I obsess over little things.” Kim explained in a video walkthrough of the exhibition. “I’m always thinking about sound, social norms, deafness—I have things on my mind all the time, all day, all night.”

The mid-career survey is Kim’s first major museum exhibition. The show is a comprehensive exploration of her artistic output. Dating from 2011 to the present, more than 90 works are featured across drawings, paintings, sculptures, video installations, and site-specific murals. Among the works presented are the six Degrees of Deaf Rage drawings. In addition, numerous works on view in the exhibition are highlighted in ASL videos through the vlog project.

On the occasion of the exhibition, Kim produced an ASL video about “My Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World.” Reflecting on what prompted her to make the work, she said: “I started with my first drawing. And at the time, I was at a moment in my life where I was kind of thinking about ending my career as an artist, leaving the art world, because in the beginning of my career, I really didn’t want to share the experiences I had lived as a Deaf person. I wanted to share who I was as just an artist. But I had gotten to a point in my career where I felt safe enough to talk about my Deafness and my Deaf identity.”

Indeed her Deaf identity and unique perspective have fueled her creativity. Kim recalled with pride the arc of her career at the Whitney and her contributions to the museum’s ASL programming.

“When I was fresh out of grad school, I got a job here (at the Whitney Museum), in 2007, as an educator. And at that time, the only tours that were available were with hearing educators and interpreters. I suggested that we should start doing tours in ASL. From Deaf educators to Deaf audiences. And that’s how we came up with Whitney Signs and the vlog project,” Kim said in the video walkthrough.

“It’s surreal to see myself showing here from where I started to where I am now, having a full-circle moment. I’m back as an artist with a solo exhibition with a team of curators who at least know basic ASL. So here we are.” CT

“Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night” is on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, from Feb. 8-Sept. 21, 2025. The exhibition travels next to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn. (March 27–Sept. 6, 2026)

FIND MORE Explore an array of ASL videos highlighting works by African American artists represented in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art on Culture Type

FIND MORE about Christine Sun Kim on her website and Instagram

FIND MORE about various access programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art

This video is part of the Whitney Museum’s ASL vlog project. In the video, Christine Sun Kim explains her own drawing, “My Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World” (2018), which is on view in her mid-career survey, “Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night,” and was featured in the Whitney Biennial 2019. Many videos have been made about the individual works in “All Day All Night.” | Video by Whitney Museum of American Art

More than a decade ago when she was working in the education department at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Christine Sun Kim discussed her evolving artistic practice and work developing ASL programming for Deaf audiences. | Video by Whitney Museum of American Art

Christine Sun Kim is among the interpreters who appear in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s ASL videos. On the occasion of “Glenn Ligon: AMERICA,” the artist’s mid-career survey at the museum in 2011, she introduces his practice and discusses several works featured in the show. | Video by Whitney Museum of American Art

In this ASL video from a dozen years ago, artist and educator Christine Sun Kim talks with William Pope.L (1955-2023) about his “Skin Set Drawings” (2001-2005). The series explores the complexities of language and the social constructions of race, gender, and identity. The drawings were featured in the group exhibition “Blues for Smoke.” Kim conducts the interview with the assistance of Denis Kahler, an ASL interpreter. | Video by Whitney Museum of American Art

BOOKSHELF
“Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night” was published to accompany the exhibition of the same name. The mid-career survey is Christine Sun Kim’s first major museum show. “Whitney Biennial 2019” documents the biennial that featured Kim’s series of Degrees of Deaf Rage drawings. Also consider “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” which documents another exhibition currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art. “Edges of Ailey” coincided with a major exhibition exploring the life and legacy of choreographer Alvin Ailey.