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1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader

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A view of four people looking at a large sculptural installation of noses. In the background is a large inflatable red arm
1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

'1880 THAT' is a new exhibition, which explores sign language and the right to communicate. It brings together new and recent work by the artists Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader.

The exhibition explores the idea of language as a home - an essential place of belonging - and what it means to live with the threat of losing one's language.

The exhibition title refers to the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf, held in Milan in 1880, and its influence on Deaf education around the world. The term THAT is an emphatic expression in American Sign Language (ASL), which adds weight and significance to a preceding statement.

The conference declared that oral education - teaching Deaf people to communicate through lip reading and speech - should replace sign language in Deaf schools. The inventor Alexander Graham Bell was also a strong advocate for the oral system.

The majority of conference attendees were hearing people. Following the conference, the teaching of sign language was sidelined and suppressed, resulting in exclusion and stigma for Deaf people.

Despite its importance to Deaf communities, there is no plaque on the building where the Milan Conference took place so the artists have created their own commemorative bricks, which make a connection between bricks as the building blocks of cities and of language.

Kim and Mader’s playful artworks use humour to draw attention to the ripple effects of the conference on Deaf education and identity. Through film and sculpture, '1880 THAT' addresses the fundamental right to communicate and explores new possibilities for understanding between signed and spoken languages.

'1880 THAT' is curated by Laurie Britton Newell. All works in the exhibition will be accompanied by British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation.

There will be a Deaf-led BSL tour, BSL interpreted tours, audio described tours and a relaxed opening during the exhibition. Find exhibition events below for more details and to book a tour. They will appear online around four weeks before the event takes place.

Exhibition highlights

A photograph of a two bricks embossed with ‘1880’ and ‘THAT’.
'1880 THAT', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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The Milan Conference of 1880 changed the course of Deaf education, but there is no plaque on the building where the event took place. Artists Kim and Mader have created a commemorative brick to contest the erasure of this pivotal moment in Deaf history. Bricks were a significant element of urban life in the 1800s, especially in London, and this led the artists to think about how bricks could also allude to the building blocks of language and their use in protest. 

A photograph of two people looking at exhibition information boards and BSL screens.
1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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As you enter the exhibition, you’ll see a large wall text and a screen with a BSL film. They both introduce the exhibition and provide some wider historical context. You can also take a variety of guides in different formats around the exhibition. Each artwork is accompanied by a BSL film, audio description and wall captions.

A photograph showing a pair of visitors standing next to an installation of a large inflateable arm, next to this is close-up of an inflatable finger pointing at an indentation in the wall.
'Attention', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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‘Attention’ is a two-part work consisting of two giant inflatable red arms at either end of the gallery. In American Sign Language, one of the most common ways to attract attention is by waving downwards with one hand and tapping in a person's field of vision. Another way is to point. The first waving arm you encounter is oriented towards the Houses of Parliament to get the attention of policymakers in the UK. The other arm is pointing towards Milan, where the conference took place in 1880. The pointing finger has worn a depression in the wall, symbolising the ongoing need to advocate for deaf rights and inclusion.

A gallery view of a large sculptural installation of noses, accompanied by an information panel featuring a BSL screen.
'Look up my Nose', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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‘Look up my nose’ is an installation that consists of a cluster of noses suspended above a platform. It has been modelled on the nose of inventor Alexander Graham Bell and represents the people who looked down their noses at sign language users. Bell was a strong advocate of oralism, a speech-based system of education for deaf people, and actively suppressed the use of sign language. An automated drum stick at the base of the sculpture creates a strong bass frequency while simultaneously pushing air out through the nostrils. The drum can be both felt and heard across the gallery. 

A photograph of a corner of an artwork featuring a series of illustrated noses.
'Running Gag', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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This drawing of over 200 noses represents the people who attended the Milan conference and the supporters of oralism who followed afterwards. All the noses, apart from one, are snorting condescendingly, representing the disdain that the majority of attendees had towards sign language. At the bottom right of the drawing, the only nose that is not snorting represents the one Deaf person who attended the conference, an American teacher called James Denison.

A photograph of a video projection featuring two people with painted noses, gesturing to each other.
'What's Left', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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There are several films in the exhibition. In ‘What’s Left’ the artists have reimagined the American children’s TV show ‘Sesame Street’. It features two characters called Lefty the Salesman, who was known for selling letters of the alphabet in a suspicious way, interacting with a character called Ernie. The film refers to the absurdity of a language being judged as illegal, and how sign language communities had to exist underground following the Milan Conference. There’s no sound in the film, all the dialogue is conveyed in subtitles. 

A photograph of a large brick wall, in the brickwork there are the words ‘I am not cross’.
'Not Cross', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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This giant brick wall is about the disconnection between words and body language. People can say one thing and mean something else, for example, they may say "I am not cross" while their body language conveys the opposite. In sign language, facial expressions are a key grammatical factor and can radically change the meaning of what is being communicated. Only skilled sign language interpreters can detect this, and sometimes Deaf people feel like they are talking to the proverbial 'brick wall'.

A photograph of a video installation featuring two animated yellow figures, passing each other their eyes.
'Eye Spy', part of 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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In the animation ‘Eye Spy’, two transparent figures pass a set of eyeballs back and forth between them.  The work relates to an American Sign Language expression, "If only you could see things through my eyes". This gesture and its meaning resonate with the overarching theme of the exhibition: Deaf people should be involved in decisions about their lives. If the decision makers at the Milan Conference could have seen through the eyes of the Deaf people, they might have come to a different conclusion. 

Visit us

Free admission

Galleries open Tuesday–Sunday, Opening times

Gallery 2, level 1

Step-free access is available to all floors of the building

Large-print guides, transcripts and magnifiers are available in the gallery

Access resources

Plan your visit

Exhibition visual story

This visual story provides images and information to help you plan and prepare for your visit to the exhibition.

When you're here

Resources designed to support your visit are available online and in the gallery.

Digital highlights tour
  • Find out more about the exhibition with our digital highlights tour, available in short audio clips with audio description and transcripts, or as BSL videos. It can be accessed on your own device, via handheld devices with tactile buttons, or on an iPad which you can borrow
  • Watch BSL video tour
  • Listen to audio tour with audio description
BSL, transcripts and induction loops
Audio description and visual access
Wheelchair and physical access
  • Step-free access is available to all floors of the building
  • We have a Changing Places toilet on level 0 and accessible toilets on all floors
Sensory access
  • A visual story with a sensory map is available online and in the building at the start of the exhibition
  • You can borrow tinted glasses, tinted visors, ear defenders and weighted lap pads. Please speak to a member of staff in the building
  • Weekday mornings and Thursday evenings are usually the quietest times to visit

Access information, tours and queries

Visit our accessibility page
access@wellcomecollection.org