Who Is Joan Miró Prize Winner 2023 Tuan Andrew Nguyen?
(Ocula Magazine):Vietnamese-American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has won the eighth Joan Miró Prize. He will receive €50,000 and the opportunity to present a solo show at the Fundació Joan Miró in 2024.
Nguyen was chosen from a short list that included Tala Madani, Mika Rottenberg, Frida Orupabo and Haegue Yang.
The jury unanimously settled on Ngyuen citing ‘the ravishing beauty and poetic, sensual qualities of his filmic and sculptural projects’ and ‘the poignant performative expressions that address challenging themes related to history, collective memory, and the impact of colonialism.’
The jury pointed to Nguyen’s ‘extraordinary depth and imagination’ as qualities connecting him to Joan Miró, one of the criteria for assessing nominees.
Born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1976, Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s family escaped the country by boat. They emigrated to the United States in 1979.
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He went on to earn an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2004, co-found artist collective The Propeller Group, and establish the artist-run space Sàn Art in Ho Chi Minh City, where he now lives.
In 2020, Nguyen presented his video The Boat People (2020) at James Cohan in New York. Set in Bataan, the Philippines, five children—the last people on earth—seek out war relics used by the Japanese, American, and Filipino armies, carve wooden replicas of them, and set them on fire. They go on to discuss death and divinity with the head of a stone statue—perhaps Quan Yin, who represents compassion and mercy.
Speaking to Ocula Magazine about the work, Nguyen said, ‘I don’t subscribe to the idea that repair is an option within a post-colonial context, where so much has been decimated historically; but I do think shared compassion is an immensely useful tool, philosophically and in practice.’
‘It is completely constructive, without being victim to the past, and without being subservient to the future. Hence, I believe that shared compassion is empowering,’ he said.
Nguyen’s videos have also appeared in numerous film festivals, as well as exhibitions including the fifth Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane (2006–07), Sharjah Biennial 14 (7 March–10 June 2019). and the 5th Aichi Triennale.
The previous winners of the Joan Miró Prize are Olafur Eliasson, Pipilotti Rist, Mona Hatoum, Roni Horn, Ignasi Aballí, Kader Attia, and Nalini Malani. —[O]