Multidisciplinary artist Christine Sun Kim shares insights into a new series of artworks that explore the physical space of American Sign Language (ASL).
Kim reflects on her time spent in London whilst in residence at Somerset House Studios and unpacks the new direction of her work in this film. During this period, she sought to visualise the tensions between notations, marks and, most importantly, the edges of the sign as shape – in the amount of space that language can occupy. The residency resulted in a new commission Edges of Sign Language, featuring four stretched canvases that describe the movement of a signer’s arms and hands when making the sign described in the work’s title. Presented at Gallery 31 as part of the Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy programme, Kim's new works emphasise the specific spatial dimensions of communication.
I'm interested in exploring the outer edge of a sign, how far can you push a sign?
Credits
Edges of Sign Language was commissioned by Somerset House in collaboration with Goethe-Institut London.