Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night

On March 27, the Walker Art Center will open Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night, the artist’s first major museum survey. Kim’s (US, b. 1980; based in Berlin) expansive practice is grounded in a deep exploration of sound, from its function, to how it is physically experienced, and to its primacy in how we engage with each other and within our broader social constructs. Using musical notations, infographics, her native American Sign Language (ASL), written language, and the body, Kim captures the complexities of communication and invites audiences to experience the vibrancy of Deaf culture. All Day All Night reveals the humor, poignancy, and incisive quality of Kim’s oeuvre through more than 100 works, including drawings, site-specific murals, paintings, video installations, and sculptures, produced between 2011 and 2026. The exhibition will remain on view through August 30, 2026.  

The exhibition will also feature a new mural being shown in the US for the first time, titled Unfortunately, We Cannot (2025). The mural reflects Kim’s recurring life experience of being told that an exhibition or event cannot be made accessible with language like: “Unfortunately, we cannot.” and “We have no budget.” Kim has noted that these denials of reasonable accommodations have often given her anxiety dreams. To sign “dream” in ASL, one points their index finger in front of their head, then flexes and straightens it while moving their hand upward and outward, ending with the finger in a hook shape. The half circles depicted in this mural reference this sign. The work also engages with the subject of trauma: to sign “trauma”, one moves their index finger across their forehead as if leaving a cut or a scar. Here, the artist uses a variation of the sign with four fingers to both visually emphasize her depth of feeling and to transform it into a score by scratching her fingers across the walls of the space.  

All Day All Night is co-organized by the Walker Art Center and the Whitney Museum of American Art, where it first premiered in winter 2025. It is curated by Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collections Strategy, Walker Art Center; Jennie Goldstein, Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator of the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art; and Tom Finkelpearl, independent curator; with support from Brandon Eng, Curatorial Assistant, Walker Art Center, and Rose Pallone, Curatorial Assistant, Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibition is accompanied by a major monograph that offers the most comprehensive overview of Kim’s work to date, and which is available in digital braille and as an audio book with visual descriptions.  

“We are thrilled to present Christine Sun Kim’s first survey exhibition,” said Pyś, “With razor-sharp wit, Kim’s wide-ranging and experimental practice celebrates the artistic and expressive possibilities across many forms language, revealing how uneven access shapes everyday life”. 

Curatorial team: Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collections Strategy; Jennie Goldstein, Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator of the Collection; Tom Finkelpearl, independent curator; with Brandon Eng, Curatorial Assistant, and Rose Pallone, Curatorial Assistant, 

Exhibition sponsors: Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night is co-organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Lead support is provided by the Ford Foundation, Teiger Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Walker Art Center’s presentation is made possible with major support from the KHR McNeely Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by Lewis Baskerville, Jan Breyer, the Korea Foundation, Michael Peterman and David Wilson, Idee German Schoenheimer, Susan and Rob White, and Rosina Lee Yue.