We are delighted that Showroom alumni Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn has received the 2025 MacArthur Fellowship. Nguyen has been recognised for his interdisciplinary practice that gives aesthetic form to histories of war, displacement, resistance, and resilience.

Since 1981, the MacArthur Foundation has sought to support creative, pathbreaking work across fields through the MacArthur Fellows Program. Each year, the Foundation awards 20 to 25 Fellowships to individuals whose work has been evaluated as exceptionally creative by Foundation Staff and an anonymous, interdisciplinary committee. The Fellowship is notably not a lifetime achievement award; instead, it is an investment in individuals at any career stage who have shown a unique ability for originality and innovation in their field. The monetary award and national visibility of the Fellowship are intended to enable new, exciting work and opportunities for each Fellow, leading to societal impact.

In January 2025 The Showroom presented Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn: When Water Embraces Empty Space the artist’s first solo exhibition in London. The film-based project focused on the Luf Boat, an exquisitely hand-carved fifteen-metre-long, wooden outrigger sailboat, from the island of Luf in Papua New Guinea now residing in the Humboldt Forum, Berlin. Working with the descendants of the Luf Boat’s original builders, Nguyễn created a series of films combining documentation of a special encounter with the Luf Boat and the descendants, CGI animation and speculative imaginings about its possible return to the island of Luf.

The project was commissioned and produced in partnership with Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg; The Showroom, London, and The Goldfarb Gallery, York University, Toronto; with funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Federal Government and Commissioner for Culture and the Media.