Dubai, United Arab Emirates | December 16, 2024 – Art Jameel, an organisation that supports artists and creative communities, presents Vietnamese artist Trần Lương’s first international survey exhibition titled ‘Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain’ (December 19, 2024 – May 18, 2025) at Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai’s hub for contemporary art and culture. Conceived by guest curator Biljana Ciric, the exhibition offers a lens into the Hanoi-born artist’s life and work, shaped by political and social transitions in Vietnam, and informed by his multifaceted roles as activist, curator, facilitator, archivist and mentor. It traces his beginnings as a painter, his move towards conceptual and performance art, and his foundational and complex role as a leading figure within the Vietnamese contemporary art scene and the wider Southeast Asian region. Lương co-founded the Gang of Five (1983-1996), which organised monthly exhibitions in alternative spaces, co-founded Nhà Sàn Studio, the country’s first artist-led experimental art space and was founding director of the Hanoi Contemporary Art Centre in 2000.
From his lyrical paintings – drawing on memories of a childhood spent on the move and hiding from U.S. bombs in the Vietnamese countryside – to his high-energy single-man participatory performances, his work in community engagement down to his involvement in institution-making, ‘Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain’ continues Art Jameel’s commitment to presenting groundbreaking exhibitions that foreground and celebrate major figures from across the region who have been influential within local and global art movements.
Nora Razian, Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions and Programmes, said: “We are honoured that Jameel Arts Centre is the lead for the international tour of ‘Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain’, a landmark exhibition that celebrates the transformative work of Trần Lương. This exhibition highlights his profound artistic journey and his pivotal role in shaping contemporary art in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Working with the artist and guest curator Biljana Ciric, who has a long-standing relationship with Lương, has been an extraordinary experience, allowing us to explore the deep intersections between his artistic practice, environmental and social activism and community building. We are thrilled to share this vital and timely exhibition with our audiences, offering a lens into Lương’s legacy as a cultural catalyst.”
‘Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain’ is co-organised by Art Jameel, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, New Zealand and The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, and will be touring from 2025 to 2027.
The opening of ‘Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain’ is marked by a conversation between the artist and curator, delving into Luong’s wide-ranging practice, taking place on Wednesday December 18; RSVP required.
The exhibition is accompanied by the first comprehensive publication exploring the practice of Tran Luong, (available for purchase at the Art Jameel Shop), tracing the impact of Luong’s artistic and institutional practice on the wider art scene of South East Asia and beyond and including contributions by text contributions by Iola Lenzi, Phoebe Scott, Lê Thuận Uyên, Vu Duc Toan, Linh Lê, and Biljana Ciric. Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain is copublished with Art Jameel, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and the Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.
About Trần Lương
Born in Hanoi in 1960, Trần Lương is a performance and visual artist and a major figure in creating space for critical contemporary art in Vietnam. Among the first local artists to experiment with performance and video, his artwork is grounded in local experience. Active in creating opportunities for artists, Lương co-founded the Gang of Five (1983-1996), which organised monthly exhibitions in alternative spaces. In 1998, he co-founded Nhà Sàn Studio, the country’s first artist-led experimental art space, and curated the majority of its exhibitions in the initial four years. He was founding director of the Hanoi Contemporary Art Centre in 2000, a post from which he resigned in 2003 in protest of government corruption. In 2020 he co-founded the Center for Art Patronage and Development (APD), an organisation focusing on artistic development with the orientation of intersecting activities between artistic development and social development. He has continued to direct APD’s programme since its founding. Among his collaborative projects that take art to the people to generate debate about ways of living are the Mạo Khê Coal Mine Art Project, involving workshops with a worker’s community in a rural mine; and On the Banks of the Red River, which presented interactive performance in an impoverished area of Hanoi.
About Biljana Ciric
Biljana Ciric is an interdependent curator. She was curator of the Pavilion of the Republic of Serbia at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, where she presented ‘Walking with Water’, a solo exhibition by Vladimir Nikolic. She conceived of the inquiry for the first Trans-Southeast Asian Triennial in Guangzhou, ‘Repetition as a Gesture Towards Deep Listening’ (2021/2022), which led to a collaboration with Trần Lương and a number of partner institutions. Ciric was the co-curator of the 3rd Ural Industrial Biennale for Contemporary Art (Yekaterinburg, 2015), curator in residence at Kadist Art Foundation (Paris, 2015) and a research fellow at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (Høvikodden, 2016).-ENDS-
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About Art Jameel
Art Jameel supports artists and creative communities. Founded and supported by the Jameel family philanthropies, the independent organisation is headquartered in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and works globally. Art Jameel’s programmes – across exhibitions, commissions, research, learning and community-building – are grounded in a dynamic understanding of the arts as fundamental to life and accessible to all.
Art Jameel’s two institutions—Hayy Jameel, a dedicated complex for the arts and creativity in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Jameel Arts Centre, an innovative institution for contemporary art and ideas in Dubai, UAE—are complemented by digital initiatives, collaborations with major institutional partners, and a network of practitioners worldwide.
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About Jameel Arts Centre
One of Dubai’s first contemporary arts institutions, Jameel Arts Centre presents curated solo and group exhibitions drawn from the Art Jameel Collection and through regional and international collaborations.
The Centre is a 10,000-square-metre, three-storey, multi-disciplinary space designed by UK-based practice Serie Architects. The building is punctuated by seven gardens, designed by landscape architect Anouk Vogel, which reflect local and global desert biomes. Sitting alongside is the Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park, designed by Waiwai and a collaboration between Art Jameel and Dubai Holding.
Located by the creek in Dubai’s Jaddaf Waterfront neighbourhood, the Jameel’s galleries are complemented by the Jameel Library, an open-access research centre dedicated to artists and cultural movements in the Gulf states and beyond. The Jameel also includes project and commission spaces, a writer’s studio, an artisan seasonal dining concept, Teible, and the Art Jameel Shop.
Jameel Arts Centre served as a hub for multidisciplinary practitioners working across culture and climate change during COP28.