Oscar Tuazon

Oscar Tuazon (born 1975, Seattle) is an American artist whose practice moves between sculpture, architecture, and forms of social and environmental engagement. His work focuses on the functional and spatial possibilities of sculpture, often constructing architectural environments rather than simply placing objects within existing exhibition spaces. Using materials and processes associated with building and construction, Tuazon creates structures that can be occupied, entered, used, and adapted, transforming the exhibition site into a space for encounter and participation. His practice questions the distinction between sculpture and architecture and places particular emphasis on use, collaboration, and the social possibilities generated by constructed environments. Tuazon’s architectural sculptures frequently take the form of temporary structures, rooms, platforms, and other functional environments. The Kunst Museum Winterthur’s 2023 mid-career retrospective, *Building*, surveyed his work from 2000 onward and focused on these “architectural sculptures,” emphasizing their practical and participatory dimensions. For the exhibition, Tuazon constructed an expansive wooden structure that functioned simultaneously as sculpture, model house, meeting place, and event forum. The project was produced in collaboration with Bergen Kunsthall and Kunsthalle Bielefeld, where related presentations extended his investigation of experimental space-making and temporary occupation. The accompanying monograph *Oscar Tuazon: Building* was published by DoPe Press. A sustained strand of Tuazon’s practice is *Water School*, an artistic and educational project concerned with water, land, infrastructure, and the politics surrounding access to natural resources. Developed through architectural structures and spaces for learning, discussion, and collaboration, the project connects local environmental questions with broader social and political concerns. At the MSU Broad Art Museum, *Oscar Tuazon: Water School* brought this approach to the Great Lakes region, linking questions of water and land rights with environmental sustainability and creating a platform for formal and informal learning. In 2025, Tuazon developed a new chapter of the project at MAXXI in Rome through *Something in the Water*, an exhibition he curated that brought together works by fifteen artists and considered water as a connective element across artistic practices, landscapes, cultures, and societies. Tuazon has presented his work internationally in museums, kunsthalles, and biennials. His solo exhibitions include *Fire Worship* at the Aspen Art Museum in 2019 and *Building* at Kunst Museum Winterthur, Bergen Kunsthall, and Kunsthalle Bielefeld in 2023. His work has also been presented in major international exhibitions including the São Paulo Biennial and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Across these projects, Tuazon has continued to develop an approach in which sculpture becomes a means of constructing situations, spaces, and forms of collective activity rather than a discrete autonomous object. His work is held in major institutional collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art; Walker Art Center; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; and Kunsthaus Zürich. His practice has been accompanied by a number of artist’s books and monographs, including *Water School* (2020) and *Building* (2023). Through sculpture, architecture, and collaborative projects, Tuazon continues to investigate how constructed spaces can function as places of occupation, exchange, learning, and collective engagement.