The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named mixed-media artist Christine Sun Kim one of its 2026 MacArthur Fellows. She is among 20 recipients this year, alongside artists Rodney McMillian, Chip Thomas, and Vincent Valdez. Each fellow will receive USD 800,000 disbursed over five years to support their research and practice.
Born in California in 1980 and based in Berlin, Kim has been Deaf since birth. After being told that no university courses in graphic design offered interpreters, she completed a BFA at the School of Visual Arts, New York (2006), followed by an MFA in sound and music at Bard College (2013). Early in her career, she drew on her own experience as a Deaf person to examine how communication moves across cultures. In 2019, she participated in the Whitney Biennial with Degrees of Deaf Rage (2018–19), a series of charcoal illustrations expressing her frustration with hurdles encountered in cultural institutions. She received the Ford Foundation’s Disability Future Fellowship in 2020.
Practice and recognition
Kim’s practice has expanded to encompass performance, music, and interactive installation, often deploying dry humor to raise awareness of Deaf issues and to probe societal, cultural, and bodily relationships to language and sound. Her work has been shown internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013); the Shanghai and Berlin Biennales (both 2016); the Museum f cr Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2021); the Secession, Vienna (2023); the Gwangju Biennale (2023); and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul (2026).
About the MacArthur Fellowship
Informally known as the genius grant, the MacArthur Fellowship has been awarded annually since 1981 to people working across fields from writing and the arts to science and teaching. Kristen Mack, vice president of communications for MacArthur Fellows and Partnerships, noted that past fellows have defied boundaries by questioning conventions, crossing disciplines, and driving collective progress. The foundation described Kim as an artist who explores the political, cultural, and multisensory dimensions of sound, spoken language, and communication.
With this recognition, Kim adds a significant milestone to a trajectory defined by rigorous inquiry into how sound and language are perceived, negotiated, and represented.
