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Christine Sun Kim Wins Inaugural Radical Transformation Award

Sound artist and performer Christine Sun Kim has won the inaugural Radical Transformation Award by the Henkaku Center at Chiba Institute of Technology (Chiba Tech) in Japan. The accolade, which includes a JPY 10 million (USD 68,000) prize funded by philanthropist Reid Hoffman, was presented to Kim during Chiba Tech’s 2025 School for Design and Science Symposium.
Established by the Henkaku Center at Chiba Tech, the Radical Transformation Award honors individuals, collectives, or initiatives that challenge authority and disrupt tradition to enact positive change. Kim was lauded for “fundamentally reimagining how society understands sound, language, and power,” according to an announcement on social media.
Through drawing, performance, video installations, sculptures, and murals, Kim’s work critiques how oral and auditory norms marginalize Deaf communities and constructs alternative frameworks to understand themes such as communication, access, and belonging. With American Sign Language (ASL) as her first language, Kim incorporates musical notation, ASL, infographics, and body language into her work, challenging the notion that sound is solely an auditory experience and expanding its perception across visual, physical, and political dimensions.
Joi Ito, president of Chiba Tech, stated: “By bridging art and activism, linguistics and technology, personal narrative and systemic critique, Christine embodies what we seek to celebrate with this award.”
Kim’s ongoing solo exhibition “All Day All Night” at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York synthesizes over a decade of work alongside a recent site-responsive mural. She is featured on the cover of ArtAsiaPacific’s latest 144 Issue (Jul/Aug 2025).
Stella Wu is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.