Trần Lương: Tầm Tã - Soaked in the Long Rain

Spanning painting, installation, performance, community engagement and institution-making, the exhibition delves into the life of an artist who, over the last thirty years, has played a significant role in supporting critical contemporary art in Vietnam—a context with little public infrastructure for artmaking and display, and continued limits on artistic expression.

From his early career as a painter in the 1980s, the exhibition traces Trần’s shift towards performance and conceptual art, following the opening up of Vietnam’s economy to global trade, as well as his subsequent efforts to work collaboratively with communities. Throughout, Trần has worked actively to build spaces for experimentation, education and sharing, and to enhance exchange between Vietnam and the wider Southeast Asian region.

Tầm Tã – Soaked in the long rain is the first significant presentation of Trần’s work in Aotearoa. The exhibition offers insight into the artist’s multifaceted life and practice; shaped by political and social transitions in Vietnam, and the many roles he continues to play—as activist, curator, facilitator, archivist and mentor.

Tầm Tã – Soaked in the Long Rain is curated by Biljana Ciric and co-organised by Art Jameel, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre and The Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Opening Weekend

Offsite Performance: Trần Lương,“A Consignment Journey” / Flowing

12pm – 4pm | Saturday 1 November 2025
Pukekura Park, near the Band Rotunda

10am – 2pm | Sunday 2 November 2025
Ngāmotu Beach

Over the opening weekend of his exhibition Tầm Tã – Soaked in the long rain, Trần Lương realised his first performance in Aotearoa.

This performance furthered the artist’s interest in engaging with different communities and contexts through acts of unconditional trust. Over two days, the artist was present at different locations in Ngāmotu with his head covered, simply waiting for an encounter to happen. Passersby were invited to guide the artist in any direction they wish. 

The artist offered this open-ended proposition as a means of getting to know a new context intimately through exchange with, trust in and learning from those who live there. He states:

On every meter of my life's journey, although I have seen a lot, how much have I truly understood. Each time I return to a place, at best I manage to "see" just a small hidden corner of life, which seems far too little compared to what I hope for.

I once tried to approach the places differently—rather than only looking and asking. This time, I am voluntarily giving myself to strangers along the way.

Infrastructures for Collective Imagining: A day-long gathering
Developed by Balamohan Shingade and Simon Gennard

10am - 5pm | Sunday 1 February

On the occasion of Trần Lương’s exhibition Tầm Tã – Soaked in the long rain, we invited artists, arts workers, poets, students, teachers, advocates and policy makers for a one-day workshop exploring artist-led infrastructures and strategies for social change.

Unfolding over a series of talks, workshops and participatory actions led by Shingade of Spoor Books, Bea Gladding, and Sue Bradford, the programme explored approaches to art, publishing and education that aim to co-create infrastructures that reimagine the public sphere and create openings for meaningful connection and exchange. 

Spoor Books' contribution examined how neoliberal logics organise artistic and activist practices—how logics of scarcity, brand management, market-driven legitimacy, competitive individualism, and so on constrain our collective capacity to imagine and work otherwise.

Artist and organiser Bea Gladding (Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi) led a workshop on Puke Ariki Landing, encouraging shared intimacy and vulnerability among a group of relative strangers. Through prompts, Gladding's workshop interrogated and sought to undo assumptions guiding art's infrastructures.

Bringing a perspective nurtured from a lifetime of activism within the intersection between arts practice and work for transformative systems change, Sue Bradford facilitated a participatory session aimed at bringing together the teams, ideas and imaginings sparked by our time together.

Exhibition partners: