Christine Sun Kim uses technology to investigate and rationalize her relationship with sound and spoken languages. Born deaf, Kim felt that she had no “ownership” of sound. In her multimedia presentations, she takes claim of sound and the relationship she has forged to it, by liberating the voice from social constraints and norms.
Kim gives workshops and talks on sound art, combines musical notation and other systems to produce visual scores and transcripts, conducts a choir that uses facial expressions to "sing," and vocalizes through a set of piano wires and transducers. Kim combines conceptual and literal attempts to shift the "ownership" of sound and language, while simultaneously legitimizing her perception.
Christine Sun Kim has an MFA in Sound/Music from Bard College and an earlier MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She is a TED Senior Fellow.
Her talk at Miami, “Liberating the Voice, Liberating the Senses,” will examine the role of sound in identity formation. Who "owns" sound? Growing up deaf, Christine Sun Kim felt that she was disconnected from the sounds she made, and further disconnected from those around her. By taking an new approach to creating and experiencing sound, she opens up the possibility of liberating the voice. In her interactive presentations, Kim develops a polyphonic approach to understanding the role sound and spoken language plays in our lives. By using technology and her art practice to give her a "voice," Kim harnesses drawings, performances, installations, workshops, and talks to bring her voice alive and break down the walls between us.
Reception to follow.
