Christine Y. Kim

Christine Y. Kim is an American curator of contemporary art. She is currently the Britton Family Curator-at-Large at Tate. Prior to this post, Kim held the position of Curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Before her appointment at LACMA in 2009, she was Associate Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. She is best known for her exhibitions of and publications on artists of color, diasporic and marginalized discourses, and 21st-century technology and artistic practices.

Life and education

* Kim was born in Southern California and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area
* 1998 M.A. Gallatin School of Individualized Study, American Studies and Critical Theory Interdisciplinary, New York University. Masters Thesis: ''Mutation, Aura and the Art Experience in Cyberspace'', 1999  
* 1993 B.A. Connecticut College, New London. Double Major: Art History and French; Minor: Asian/Asian-American Studies
* 1992-93 Year Abroad, Université Paris Sorbonne and L’Institut Catholique, Paris, France
* 1991 Yonsei University International Division, Korean Language program, Seoul, Korea

Career

Kim’s first museum job after graduate school was in the bookstore at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1999. She was quickly hired as a writer in the Education Department, contributing research and texts on artists and works of art in the permanent collection for The American Century where she met other aspiring young curators and writers focusing on works of art by artists of color such as Franklin Sirmans and Lisa Dent.

In 2000, following the appointments of Lowery Stokes Sims and Thelma Golden as Director and Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs, respectively, at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Kim was hired as Curatorial Assistant. Through her promotions to Assistant Curator and to Associate Curator during her eight-year tenure, Kim organized numerous exhibitions: the groundbreaking ''Freestyle'' (2000), popularizing the term “post-black art” and featuring work by artists such as Mark Bradford, Jennie C. Jones, Dave McKenzie, and Julie Mehretu; ''Black Belt'' (2003) an exhibition that featured works by Black and, for the first time in the museum’s history, Asian American artists such as Sanford Biggers, Patty Chang, Ellen Gallagher, David Hammons, Arthur Jafa, and Glenn Kaino, and their musing on cross cultural connections and hybridities growing out of 1970s popular culture; and ''Henry Taylor: Sis and Bra'' (2007), the artist’s first solo museum exhibition.

By 2007, Kim was working between New York and Los Angeles. She presented exhibitions such as ''Kehinde Wiley: World Stage Lagos - Dakar'' (2008) and ''Flow'' (2008), referred to as the “African ‘F’ show” featuring work by artists from Africa such as Latifa Echakhch, Nicholas Hlobo, Otobong Nkanga, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at the Studio Museum, while co-founding the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) a non-profit committed to temporary, site-specific public art exhibitions with curator Shamim M. Momin.

In late 2009
Kim
was hired as Associate Curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) by CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director Michael Govan whose aim was to create a contemporary art team led by curators of color to better reflect the community, county and country. To date
Kim
has organized numerous exhibitions and projects, most notably ''James Turell: A Retrospective'' (2013-14), co-curated with Govan, which won first place for the Best Monographic Museum Exhibition in the U.S. by the International Art Critics Association (AICA-USA), and was presented concurrent with major solo presentations of Turrell’s work at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH); ''Human Nature: Contemporary Art from the Collection'' (2011), co-curated with Franklin Sirmans that presented approximately 75 works of art from the museum's permanent collection; ''Isaac Julien: Playtime'' (2019) that marked the artist’s first major presentation in Los Angeles; and ''Julie Mehretu'' (2019-2021) a critically-acclaimed mid-career survey curated with Rujeko Hockley, Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which traveled to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. In 2019
Kim
was promoted to full curator at LACMA.

In addition to an institutional career of over two decades, Kim has co-founded and partnered with local, national and international organizations, as a champion of social and racial justice, representation, and equity in exhibitions, acquisitions and museological practices, as well as community alliances and engagement. In 2017, she co-founded GYOPO, a diasporic Korean contemporary art and culture non-profit with Commonwealth & Council founder Young Chung, Human Resources co-founder Eric Kim, Equitable Vitrines (EV) Executive Director and co-founder Ellie Lee, artist Yong Soon Min, artist Jennifer Moon and artist Gala Porras-Kim, among others, committed to free public programming, community allyship and BIPOC solidarity. In collaboration with For Freedoms, LACMA, GYOPO, and Stop DiscriminAsian (SDA), Kim pioneered a series of groundbreaking virtual panel discussions in 2020
Racism is a Public Health Issue: Addressing Prejudices Against Asian Americans
' during the COVID-19 including historian Jeff Chang and artist Anicka Yi;
Examining the Impact of Police Brutality on Black Communities
' including filmmaker Ava DuVernay and Rashid Johnson; and
Essentially Forgotten: How COVID-19 Impacts Frontline Workers
' including Dolores Huerta and Chon Noriega during the pandemic. Kim’s ongoing work extends into mentorship, lectures, advocacy and education.

List of exhibitions

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Curator, 2019 – present

''Black American Portraits''
co-curated with Liz Andrews, 2021
*
Julie Mehretu
',* 2019 - 2021 co-organized with the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2020; traveling to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta 2020-21; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2021

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Associate Curator, 2010 – 2021

''Isaac Julien: Playtime''
2019
*
Frances Stark: The Magic Flute
', 2017
*
Diana Thater: The Sympathetic Imagination
',* 2015 co-curated with Lynne Cooke; toured Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2016–17
*
My Barbarian: Double Agency
', co-curated with Rita Gonzalez, 2015
*
James Turrell: A Retrospective
',* 2013-15 co-curated with Michael Govan in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York; toured National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2014 and The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2014–15
*
Figure and Form in Contemporary Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection
', 2012
*
Christian Marclay: The Clock
', 2011, 2012, 2015
*
Human Nature: Selections from the Permanent Collection
', 2011
*
Teresa Margolles
' in collaboration with Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), 2010–11

The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, Associate Curator, 2004 – 08

''Kehinde Wiley: World Stage Africa, Lagos'' – Dakar
* 2008
*
Flow
'* 2008
*
Odili Donald Odita: Equalizer
', 2008
* ''Portraits, Landscapes and Abstractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem Permanent Collection at City Hall'',* Hon. Michael Bloomberg, 2007–09

''Midnight’s Daydream: Artists-in-Residence''
* 2007
*
Henry Taylor: Sis and Bra
', 2007

''Philosophy of Time Travel''
* 2007
*
Collection in Context: Silhouette
', 2007
*
Quid Pro Quo: Artists-in-Residence
',* 2006
*
Nadine Robinson: Alles Grau
',* 2006
*
Frequency
',* 2005
*
Collection in Context: Selections from the Permanent Collection
', 2005
*
Meschac Gaba: Tresses
',* 2005
*
Scratch: Artists-in-Residence
',* 2005
* ''Lamar Peterson: Picture in a Picture'', 2005

The Studio Museum in Harlem, Assistant Curator, 2002 – 2004

*
Figuratively
'* 2004
* ''Veni Vidi Video II'', 2004

''Hands On, Hands Down: Artists-in-Residence''
* 2003
* ''Black Belt'',* 2003.
* ''Veni Vidi Video'', 2003
*
Collection in Context: Selections from the Permanent Collection
', 2002
*
Ironic Iconic: Artists-in-Residence
',* 2002
* ''Edgar Arceneaux: Drawings of Removal'', 2002

The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, Curatorial Assistant, 2000 – 2002

* ''Africaine'', 2001
* ''Freestyle'',* 2001
* ''John Bankston: Capture and Escape of Mr. M, Ch. 1,'' 2001
*
Harlem Postcards
' (ongoing seasonal project), 2002 – 2007

Guest-curated exhibitions

* Co-curator, 12th Gwangju Biennale ''The Ends: Politics of Participation in the Post-Internet Age'', 2019*
* Curatorial Advisor, Prospect.3 ''Notes for Now, New Orleans'', 2013*
* Curator, Art Public, Art Basel Miami Beach, 2012
* Curator, Art Public, Art Basel Miami Beach, 2011
* Curator, 19th Annual, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, 2011
* Curator, 18th Annual, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, 2010
* Co-curator, ''We Want a New Object'', California Institute of the Arts M.F.A. exhibition, Los Angeles, 2008
* Curator, Peter Norton Residence, CPW1, New York, 2005–06
* Curator, ''Purloined'', Artists Space, New York, 2001
* Curator, ''The Light Show'', Gale Gates (Emerging Curator Series), Brooklyn, 2000

Select publications

* “1966 and the Light in LA.” Unexpected Light: Works by Young-Il Ahn, Baik Art (2017)
* “Kori Newkirk.” Issue Magazine (Issue2 2015)
* “Deposing Dualities in Prospect 3.” Prospect 3: Notes for Now, Prestel, NY (2014)
* “Wangechi Mutu: The Pin-ups.” Wangechi Mutu: A Shady Promise, Damiani Press (2008)
* “Mark Bradford: it’s tricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that’s right on time.” Zing Magazine (Winter 2005)
* “Long Ago and Far Away.” Eduardo Sarabia exhibition catalogue, I-20, New York (2003)
* “Kehinde Wiley Faux Real.” Interview, Issue 7 (Fall 2003), 54-67
* “Colorblind? Luis Gispert, Rico Gatson, Glenn Kaino, Julie Mehretu, Yunhee Min, Kori Newkirk, Nadine Robinson, Eduardo Sarabia, Eric Wesley.” V Magazine (March/April 2003)
* “Faux Real: Interview with Kehinde Wiley.” Black Romantic exhibition catalogue, ed. Thelma Golden, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2002)
* “Candice Breitz.” Odili Donald Odita exhibition catalogue, Florence Lynch, New York (2001)
* “(212) Staging Illusion.” (212): Diti Almog, Wayne Gonzales, Odili Donald Odita, Lisa Ruyter, and John Tremblay exhibition catalogue (2000)
* “From Dual to Plural: Five Korean American Artists.” The Korean War in American Art & Culture: Fifty Years Later exhibition catalogue, East Hampton: Keener’s East End Litho (2000), 31-35

Select archived public talks

* February 15, 2020, Frieze Los Angeles
Christine Y. Kim in Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Calida Rawles

* January 20, 2020 LACMA
In Response to Julie Mehretu: ''Shifting Architectures and Painted Landscapes''

* May 15, 2020, LACMA, GYOPO, SDA:
Racism is a Public Health Issue: Addressing Prejudices Against Asian Americans during the COVID-19
'

* August 7, 2020 LACMA, For Freedoms, GYOPO, SDA:
Racism is a Public Health Issue: Examining the Impact of Police Brutality on Black Communities
'

* September 8, 2020 LACMA, Arte Americas, For Freedoms, GYOPO, SDA:
Racism is a Public Health Issue: Essentially Forgotten: How COVID-19 Impacts Frontline Workers
'

* September 17, 2020 LACMA
''View from Here'' Conversations with Artists: Christine Y Kim and Calida Rawles

* October 22, 2020 High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Conversations with Contemporary Artists Series: Julie Mehretu, Christine Y Kim and Rujeko Hockley, moderated by Michael Rooks

* September 21, 2014 Art Catalogues, LACMA
Christine Y Kim and Daniel J. Martinez on ''The Report of my Death is an Exaggeration''; ''Memoirs: Of Becoming Narrenschiff''

* December, 2011 Art Salon Art Public, Art Basel Miami Beach: Christine Y Kim in Conversation with Theaster Gates and Glenn Kaino

References

External links

* ttp://nomadicdivision.org LAND
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Christine
American art curators
American women curators
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Connecticut College alumni
21st-century American women