‘1880 THAT’ is a new exhibition exploring sign language and the right to communicate. It regards language as a home and discusses the threat of losing one’s language. The playful artworks show the conference’s impact on Deaf education and identity. It addresses communication rights and new understanding possibilities between languages, with guided tours during the exhibition.
图片：四人正在观看一座巨大的鼻子雕塑装置；背景是一只红色充气手臂。 图注：Wellcome Collection举办的《1880 THAT》展览现场，由克里斯汀·孙·金（Christine Sun Kim）与托马斯·马德（Thomas Mader）创作。摄影：Steven Pocock。
《1880 THAT》是一场全新展览，探讨手语与沟通权利。展览汇集了艺术家克里斯汀·孙·金（Christine Sun Kim）与托马斯·马德（Thomas Mader）的新作与近年作品。
展览将语言视为“家”——一处不可或缺的归属之地——并思考在失去自身语言的威胁下生活意味着什么。
展览标题指向1880年在米兰举行的第二届国际聋人教育大会（Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf，详见展览目录），以及该会议对全球聋人教育的深远影响。标题中的“THAT”是美国手语（ASL）里的强调语，用于加重并凸显前文陈述的重要性。
大会宣布，以口语教学（教聋人通过读唇与说话进行沟通）取代聋校中的手语教学。发明家亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔（Alexander Graham Bell）亦是这一口语体系的坚定倡导者。由于那次与会者大多为健听人士，只有一名听障人士参与。会后，手语教学被边缘化并遭压制，导致聋人面临排斥与污名。
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.1880年米兰会议彻底改变了聋人教育的历史轨迹，然而这场关键会议的举办地至今未立碑铭。艺术家金与马德尔为此特制一块纪念砖，以对抗这段聋人历史重要时刻遭致的系统性抹除。在19世纪，砖块是城市生活（尤其伦敦）的核心元素，这一特质启发艺术家以砖为喻——既象征语言的基石构件，又暗指抗议运动中掷地有声的武器。
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. 当你进入展厅空间，会看到一个大的墙上的文字和一个屏幕与英国手语视频。它们都是介绍展览的，并提供了一些更广泛的历史背景。您还可以带着各种不同格式的导游参观展览。每件艺术作品都配有英国手语视频，音频描述和字幕。
‘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. 装置作品《注意》（Attention）由两件巨型红色充气手臂构成，分置于展厅两端。在美国手语中，最常见的引起注意方式有两种：单手向下挥动并在对方视野内轻点，或以手指直接指向。观众首先遇见的手臂朝向英国议会大厦方向挥动，意在唤起政策制定者的关注；另一只手臂则直指1880年米兰会议举办地。指向米兰的手指已在墙面上磨出凹陷凹痕，昭示着争取聋人权益与包容性社会的抗争永无止境。‘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. “装置作品《嗤之以鼻》（’Look up my nose’）由一组悬于平台上方的鼻子集群构成。雕塑底部的自动鼓槌持续击打出强烈的低频震动，同时推动气流从鼻孔喷涌而出。这股声波在展厅中形成可被身体感知的轰鸣，穿透每个角落。 这些鼻子以发明家亚历山大·格拉汉姆·贝尔的鼻型为原型，象征那些曾对手语使用者嗤之以鼻的群体。贝尔是口语主义的强力倡导者，他倡导组成的教育体系曾积极压制手语的使用，强制听障者通过口语交流。
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. 这幅超过200个鼻子的画作代表了参加米兰会议的人和随后的口述主义支持者。所有的鼻子，除了一个，都在傲慢地嗤之以鼻，代表着大多数与会者对手语的蔑视。在图的右下角，唯一没有哼着的鼻子代表了唯一一个参加会议的聋人，一个名叫詹姆斯·丹尼森的美国老师。
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. 展览中包含多部视频影片作品，在《What’s Left》中，艺术家们重构了美国经典儿童电视节目《芝麻街》。这部影片聚焦于两个角色的互动：一个是名为“左撇子推销员”(Lefty the Salesman) 的角色——此人以某种相当鬼祟的方式兜售字母表中的字母而闻名——另一个则是大家熟知的永远在规则之外的厄尼 （Ernie，橘黄条纹衫）。 影片中，Lefty 向 Ernie 兜售的不再是字母，而是一连串在1880米兰会议中被主流教育体制判定为“错误”或“多余”的手势符号；Ernie 的困惑更揭示了「Left」之双重含义：既是空间上的边缘，也是符号上的剩余。观众在一片寂静中阅读字幕，被迫以“左”的方式（非听觉、非中心）接收信息；静默本身成为对「右」的霸权（要求口（唇）语为中心、标准化教育）的抵抗。由此，「什么是左」不仅是对聋人历史位置的追问，也是对任何语言少数群体如何在被排斥的「左岸」继续发声的隐喻。 影片标题呈现出一语双关的现实命题：手语被宣判「非法」，聋人社群被推向社会结构的「左翼」——边缘、地下、剩余。艺术家借用兜售字母的 Lefty是left 的拟人化，「左」从方位词转译为身份的标签，质问「在右派的口语霸权里，被留下的『左』究竟是什么？」
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’. 这个巨大的砖墙上写着“I am not cross（我不生气）”，这句口语把日常交流的“词不达意”瞬间放大为政治-历史的裂缝：砖墙既是字面意义上的沟通失败，也是制度性“不可译”的象征。 人们可以说一件事，却表达着另一件事，就像人们嘴里说着“我不生气”，而他们的表情和肢体语却泄露出愤怒来。当语言符号与身体符号分离，听者只能抓取字面的意思，而感受不到肢体、声调和面部所携带的真意，砖墙在此象征着这样“不可穿透的语义壁垒”。 当语言和肢体语言脱节时，只有熟练的手语翻译者才有能力“拆墙”。 而1880年米兰会议后，手语被贬为非法，聋人经验长期被隔绝于主流话语之外，社会普遍缺乏对手语语法的认知时，聋人被迫面对“对墙说话”一般的语言失效场景，这道砖墙不仅仅代表着语义的障碍，也代表着历史与制度筑起的权力和傲慢。
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. 在动画《眼睛间谍》中，两个透明的人物在他们之间来回传递一组眼球。 这幅作品与美国手语的一种表达方式有关，“如果你能通过我的眼睛看东西就好了”。这一姿态及其意义与展览的总体主题产生了共鸣：聋人应该参与他们生活的决定。如果米兰会议的决策者们能够通过聋人的眼睛看到，他们可能会得出不同的结论。
1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader
17 April 2025 – 16 November 2025
Now on
Free
Exhibition
Our building has step-free access. Exhibitions include audio description, British Sign Language and captions.
A view of four people looking at a large sculptural installation of noses. In the background is a large inflatable red arm
show credit information for image ‘1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock’
Watch in sign language
‘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(view in catalogue), 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.
Head straight to the New York City backlot to explore Frieze Projects – large-scale and immersive installations by international artists including Paul McCarthy’s giant Ketchup bottle, Sarah Cain’s painted transformation of a brownstone apartment, and Tino Sehgal’s performance. – 直接前往纽约市的外景地，探索饰带项目——国际艺术家的大型和沉浸式装置，包括保罗·麦卡锡的巨型番茄酱瓶、莎拉·凯恩对布朗斯通公寓的绘画改造以及蒂诺·塞加尔的表演。
