Christine Sun Kim is a sound artist with no ability to hear
Christine Sun Kim has compared music and sign language
Christine Sun Kim started to consider sound an art
Photo credit: Tomo Saito via Visualhunt / CC BY-ND
Christine Sun Kim has been deaf since birth. She was born in California. Her parents had no problems regarding the hearing. Her sister also was born deaf like her. She has a bent towards arts and music. She did her dual masters – one in fine arts and another in sound and music. She is a sound artist. At an early stage in her life, she started considering sound an art. She has compared music and sign language in TED talks. She is the creator of music of deaf. She defied the etiquettes of music as governed by society. She was also featured in MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York City. She decided to find out a new connection between technology and sound. She deeply explored the etiquettes of sound as defined by the society and challenged its mechanism. She extended her capabilities beyond her physically challenged conditions. She started defining sound in different forms. She started her career as a sound artist.
Photo credit: pheezy via Visualhunt / CC BY
Christine Sun Kim started experimenting various sound forms and experiencing it in different ways. She realized the being deaf in a world where everyone else is able to experience sound made her a foreigner in her own country. She felt like she is forced to adhere to traditions and customs defined by those who belong to the world of sound. She could not digest the idea. It appeared to her that she is being forced to follow blindfolded without understanding the direction and guide. She found that sound is an equivalent of power and money in this world. The sound has enormous power. It has abilities to disallow to use this power and also can permit someone to use its power to the fullest. She decided to go for the latter. She decided to empower herself to understand and use the tremendous power of sound to its fullest, but in her own way. She decided to carve a new path to use this power in an untraditional manner. This way, Christine decided to unwind the etiquettes of sound as defined by others. She decided to create her own etiquettes of sound and finally showed it to the world.
Photo credit: TED Conference via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC
For Christine Sun Kim cutting the barriers of sound and music was a challenge. Being a deaf, she formulated her own methodologies. The vibration was the first connection that she could find as an interface to understand sound and music. But soon she comprehended that vibration alone will not suffice her purpose. She had to cross the materialistic form of sound and go beyond. That is where her journey began with a different concept to bring her near to sound and music in her own formulated way. As she was not able to obtain sound directly she started discovering various means and media to act as transporters. This is an ever evolving and never ending the journey of music and sound for her.Photo credit: TED Conference via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC
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