City Talks: Los Angeles

City Talks: Christine Y. Kim

Christine Y. Kim reflects on her curatorial journey, bridging museum work with community-driven initiatives.

Words PLUS MAGAZINE

Portrait Illustration OJIMA ABALAKA

Every city has more than one story to tell and one face to show. Regardless of the artistic background, each place is filled with inspiring individuals shaping its culture and narrative. In City Talks, we feature 10 creatives representing each city per season, inviting contributors to share personal connections and foster a community that evokes a sense of belonging.

The second season is set in Los Angeles, where we speak with Christine Y. Kim, Curator-at-Large at Tate. With over a decade of transformative work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Kim has become a powerful and influential figure shaping the city’s vibrant art scene.

PLUS MAGAZINE: What is the first thing you do when you wake up?

CHRISTINE Y. KIM: Cuddle with, or if I’m traveling, FaceTime, my partner and kids.

P: Where is your favorite (go-to) restaurant in LA?

CK: My kitchen. I love to cook for my family and friends and nourish them with all kinds of gorgeous comestibles, veggies, and herbs from our backyard garden.

P: What are your ways of recharging/ taking breaks?

CK: Pilates, walks around my neighborhood (mid-city, LA), crafting with my kids while chillin’ with our crested gecko Toph.

P: What song(s) are you into these days?

CK: “Get into it” by Doja Cat and “Little Story” by Kehlani.

P: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the years of your career, and is there something you wish more people would know about the role of curator?

CK: The role of the curator as an advocate for artists and art takes on many forms and has many parts, from the boldest gestures to the most diminutive detail, from the biggest, legacy-driving moves to obtaining documentation for archives; it’s all part of the job: long road, big picture, for the next generation.

P: What would be your ways of breaking the boundaries of art?

CK: I have always kept one foot firmly rooted in museum institutions (from the Studio Museum to LACMA to Tate Modern) to ensure that BIPOC, immigrant, and marginalized narratives are centered in institutional spaces and the other foot in other, community, culturally specific, and shared spaces; I have co-founded numerous non-profits organizations and advocacy groups such as LAND, GYOPO, StopDiscriminAsian among others, and I sit on advisory boards such as Denniston Hill and Museums Moving Forward because museums often don’t have the support or safe spaces for these conversations and bodies. We can utilize and access multiple platforms to elevate and center necessary trajectories and discourses that would otherwise remain silent without our intervention.

P: Do you have an unrealized project or shows you hope to curate in the future?

CK: I have several exhibitions and projects on the horizon, one in particular that focuses on diasporic Korean artists of the 21^st century. Right now, I am focused on Tate Modern’s North American collection.

P: If you could have any artwork in your house, what would it be?

CK: Light.

P: How would you describe the art scene in Los Angeles?

CK: As deep as you want to dive/as shallow as your own vision.

P: What changes would you like to see in the art industry at large?

CK: I’d like to see more support, security, equity, and justice for art workers across departments and areas at museums and arts organizations of varying scales. The depth and breadth of our programming depend on these workers, and the next generation needs to see them as viable and engaging spaces for intellect, labor, creativity, growth, and security.

P: Which three qualities in yourself are you most thankful for?

CK: I am grateful that I grew up around different languages and cultures, and in turn, that has enabled me to understand the social conditions of today, both positive and negative, and how we need to expand and evolve.