Fact Sheet: “Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Island”
Exhibition
“Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Island”
Aug. 16, 2024–May 4, 2025
Where
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and G streets. N.W.
Description
Tuan Andrew Nguyen creates multimedia installations that blend fact, memory, myth and mysticism and use lush imagery to draw out these entanglements. By digging deep into archives and collaborating with communities, his projects weave together many voices to reveal other truths about—and strategies of repair from—colonial violence. His video work “The Island” (2017) recently acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, makes its Washington, D.C., debut at the museum. It will be shown for the first time with “Bidong Spirit I,” a sculpted headdress Nguyen created for the film. The titles of both artworks refer to the tiny Malaysian island of Pulau Bidong, a primary destination for Vietnamese, including the artist’s family, escaping by boat after the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975.
“The Island” is set on Pulau Bidong in an imagined future when this site is once again a place of last refuge. Through the main character, who has lived his entire life on the island and is revealed to be one of the sole survivors of nuclear wars, Nguyen traces historical traumas and displacements and questions individual and collective responsibilities between nations and peoples, and between past and future. Archival news reports and first-person testimonies are woven throughout the film suggesting striking parallels in the language used then and now around forced global migrations.
The presentation is organized by Saisha Grayson, curator of time-based media at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “The Island” is presented in a dedicated gallery for immersive media- art installations that opened in 2023. The 42-minute film runs continuously and can be entered at any time. The piece includes dialogue in English and Vietnamese, with translation subtitles throughout. All gallery interpretation is bilingual, including the open captions for audio accessibility.
Free Public Programs
A gallery talk Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 10 a.m. includes a full screening of the video and a post-screening discussion led by Grayson; registration is required. The discussion will be in English with Vietnamese translation. This program is presented in partnership with Vietnam Society, as part of Vietnam Week 2024.
Credit
“Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Island” received federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
About the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the flagship museum in the United States for American art and craft. It is home to one of the most significant and inclusive collections of American art in the world. The museum’s main building, located at Eighth and G streets N.W., is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The museum’s Renwick Gallery, a branch museum dedicated to contemporary craft, is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Check online for current hours and admission information. Admission is free. Follow the museum on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Website: americanart.si.edu.
