Korean American Deaf artist Christine Sun Kim has been chosen as the invited creator for this year's 'MMCA X LG OLED' exhibition series, a partnership between the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) and LG Electronics. She will present a large-scale animated video installation in MMCA Seoul's Seoul Box space, visualizing American Sign Language (ASL) through her own graphic notation system. The work captures the confrontational dynamics of today's polarized social and political climate.
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), in partnership with LG Electronics, runs the 'MMCA X LG OLED' exhibition series to highlight contemporary visual experiments that expand media language in the digital era. Launched last year, it invites one artist or collective annually to create a large-scale, site-specific installation for Seoul Box, MMCA Seoul's open space with 14-meter-high ceilings.
As a Deaf artist, Christine Sun Kim examines sound not merely as an acoustic event but as a socially constructed system influenced by power dynamics and access. Through the body, American Sign Language (ASL), and graphic notation, she uncovers how meaning is conveyed and sometimes distorted across communication systems. Her Seoul Box presentation features a monumental animated video installation on a large screen, using her custom graphic notation to visualize ASL, inspired by motion lines from classic cartoons and comic books.
The piece reflects the confrontational feel of today's polarized political and social environment, amplified by online platforms where debates loop without resolution—evoking what Kim calls 'the sensation of arguing with a rock.' MMCA Director Kim Sung-hee stated, 'Her works propose a clear thematic inquiry into the relationship between language and society in a way that is both amusing and open to multilayered interpretation. This project will mark an important turning point in the artist’s expansion into the medium of digital animation.'
Opening on July 31, the show will align with several major presentations during Seoul Art Week in September. Kim is also set for a solo exhibition at Gallery Hyundai in the fall.