Christine Sun Kim: The enchanting music of sign language
クリスティーン・サン・キム: 魅力的な手話の響き
Through visual art, composition and performance, Christine Sun Kim explores ways of transmuting sound and silence. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
is my favorite musical symbol.
私のお気に入りの音楽記号です
and you notice a "p" in the score,
upon thousands of p's there may be,
決して 完全な無音には
of American Sign Language, ASL,
to America during the early 1800s,
フランス手話が持ち込まれ
mixed with local signs,
we know today as ASL.
進化しました
that sound wasn't a part of my life.
that that wasn't the case at all.
わかっています
とても大きな一部分です
in a world of sound,
音の世界で生きていくのは
in a foreign country,
customs, behaviors and norms
習慣、行動、規範に従って
理解するのでしょう?
behave and respond to sound.
観察します
and amplify sound.
音を増幅してくれます
I've learned that I create sound,
音をたてていることが分かり
you're eating from the potato-chip bag!"
あまり大きな音をたてない」
your utensils on the plate."
I term "sound etiquette."
in eager nervous anticipation
already contain sound
既に音を含んでいるからです
movement is equivalent to sound.
動きが音に等しいのです
with my thumb sticking up like that
親指を立てて手話をするのが
I stick to four lines on paper.
線を4本しか描きません
to travel to Berlin, Germany,
滞在型創作プログラムに
I had been working as a painter.
different museums and gallery spaces,
画廊を訪ねました
and this struck me ...
こんな印象を持ちました
入ってきました
distance me from art?
遠ざけるものでしょうか?
have to be the case at all.
just experienced through the ears.
必要すらありません
taught regarding sound,
to the art community,
of support and attention I received.
ぶっ飛びました
that sound was your thing,
音は他人事
disempower me and my artwork,
力を与えてくれるかの
around spoken language.
my literal voice to communicate,
実際の声を使わないというだけで
it's as if I don't have a voice at all.
「声」を持たないかのようです
who can support me as an equal
私の声になってくれる人と
relevancy in society today.
保てるのです
different ASL interpreters.
my voice and identity.
アイデンティティーになります
a temporary form of currency,
with a very high interest rate.
するようなものです
fade off into oblivion
any form of social currency.
気がするのです
私のアート媒体としての「音」で
the similarities between music and ASL.
類似点に気づき驚きました
and expressed on paper.
表現出来ません
for a concept in ASL.
当てはまります
and highly inflected --
抑揚があります
a piano metaphor,
understanding of how ASL works.
many different grammatical parameters.
分解できます
to each finger as you play the piano --
ピアノを弾いたとしましょう
スピードや 手の形といった要素が
割り振られていると
to come down simultaneously
動かさなければならないからです
were to change the chord,
different meaning.
in regards to pitch, tone and volume.
同じことが言えます
different grammatical parameters,
through a musical lens?"
ASLを見ると どうなるか?」
and repeat it over and over,
like a piece of visual music.
for "all night."
represented in this drawing.
about three different kinds of nights:
思いつきました
a lot more musicality than the other two.
is expressed in ASL
can express the changes in time.
どう表現できるかを 示しています
「2H」は両手を表します
and in front of the body,
体のすぐ前で表します
and the past is to your back.
「過去」は 後ろで表します
is "a long time ago."
and dramatic notion to it,
ドラマチックな観念です
of four beats per measure.
is "at the same time."
という言葉が浮かびます
RHは右手 LHは左手だと思って下さい
across the head and the chest.
五線を作ります
a hand shape called the "flash claw."
手形をお見せします
in both the head and the chest,
or at the same time.
in International [Sign].
国際手話です
around the world.
目に見える道具です
to demonstrate is this --
are very similar,
how ASL is alive and thriving,
素晴らしいです
聴覚重視の世界に生きています
なってしまいます
about what defines social currency
規定しているか もっと真剣に考え
its own form of currency --
必要があります
to lead to a more inclusive society.
第一歩になるかもしれません
to be deaf to learn ASL,
ろう者である必要はないし
to learn music.
耳が聞こえる必要もないのです
to have the same experience.
to open your ears,
ハイこちらですよ
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Christine Sun Kim - Sound artist, composerThrough visual art, composition and performance, Christine Sun Kim explores ways of transmuting sound and silence.
Why you should listen
Christine Sun Kim uses the medium of sound through technology and conceptualism in art, as it enables her to have the most direct connection to society at large.
She rationalizes and reframes her relationship with sound and spoken languages by using audience’s voice as her own, conducting a group of people to sing with facial movements (rather than sound), composing visual scores with sign language and musical symbols. These attempts are made to raise questions on ownership of sound, explore oral languages as social currency, deconstruct preconceived ideas about silence, and above all, unlearn sound etiquette.
As part of her practice, Kim borrows other people’s voices in order to have one and she does it by collaborating with artists such as Devonté Hynes, Thomas Benno Mader, Wolfgang Müller and Alison O’Daniel. Selected exhibitions and performances include: Sound Live Tokyo, Tokyo; White Space, Beijing; LEAP, Berlin; Carroll / Fletcher, London; nyMusikk, Oslo; Andquestionmark, Stockholm; Southern Exposure, San Francisco; Recess Activities, New York; Calder Foundation, New York; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Additionally, she was a recipient of Artist Residency at Whitney Museum, Haverford College, Southern Exposure, Arnolfini, University of Texas’ Visual Arts Center and Fellowship at TED and MIT Media Lab.
Christine Sun Kim | Speaker | TED.com