Saturday, May 24, 2025, 2 – 4 pm
Public Conversation with Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Stanley Inum, Fordy Stanley, and Enoch Lun
Interpreted by Kireni Sparks-Ngenge and moderated by Jenifer Papararo
The Pavilion
Join us for a rare opportunity to be part of a public conversation between artist Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn and three Papua New Guinea community members at the heart of his ambitious new exhibition When Water Embraces Empty Space. Stanley Inum, Fordy Stanley, and Enoch Lun have travelled from Papua New Guinea to be here to reflect on their emotional encounter with the ancestral Luf canoe in Berlin’s Humboldt Forum and the living act of cultural continuity through the making of a new canoe in their homeland. Nguyễn often uses objects as a connecting point and, for this body of work, reuniting the descendants of the original canoe makers with the boat was the germinating seed from which the exhibition grew, capturing the first physical experience of the canoe by Stanley, Fordy, and Enoch, three generations of people of Luf. This is an extraordinary chance to hear directly from those whose ancestral connections, cultural knowledge, and lived experience ground this project. Join us to gain insight into the generational impact of colonial displacement, the cultural power of objects, and the transformative potential of repatriation and return. The conversation will invite reflection on how art can reanimate histories that museums have long sought to contain. Kireni Sparks-Ngenge, who has also traveled from Papua New Guinea and whose singing voice is captured in the exhibition’s eponymous work, will interpret. This discussion, which offers an intimate look into the lived histories that shape the exhibition, will be moderated by curator Jenifer Papararo.
Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Left: Touching the Boat; Right: Tattooed Arm of Enoch Lun, both 2024. Digital prints on Dibond. Installation: Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg, Germany.
For more information on Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn’s solo exhibition When Water Embraces Empty Space, please see here. This is the first presentation of Nguyễn’s work in Canada. This exhibition is commissioned by Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg, Germany, in partnership with The Showroom in London and The Goldfarb Gallery with funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Federal Government and Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The exhibition is also made possible with operational support from York University and funding from the Canada Council from the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. It is courtesy of the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York.
Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn is well-known for his multi-faceted video and sculptural installations through which he tells individual stories of immigration and diasporic movement. He is the recipient of the prestigious Joan Miró Prize in 2023. Nguyễn’s work has been included in major international exhibitions including the Asia Pacific Triennial, 2006; the Whitney Biennial, 2017; the Sharjah Biennial, 2019; and the Berlin Biennale, 2022. Recent one-person exhibitions include The New Museum, 2022; Fundació Joan Miró, 2023; and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, 2024. Nguyễn co-founded The Propeller Group in 2006, a platform for collectivity that situates itself between an art collective and an advertising company. Including in a major travelling retrospective beginning at the MCA Chicago in 2016, the collective has participated in international exhibitions such as The New Museum Triennial, 2012; LA Biennial, 2012; Prospect.3 New Orleans Triennial, 2014; and the Venice Biennale, 2015.
