The Urgency of Art Prize 2026 Shortlisted
04
Jul 2026 Issue 18
12 min read
The Urgency of Art Prize 2026 Short Listed -
Trần Quang Đại
Artist Bio
Trần Quang Đại (b. 1992, Việt Nam) is a conceptual artist with a background
in criminal law. Trained in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of
Art, London, his work brings together traditional media and socially reflective
methods to navigate the silent spaces between ethics, belonging, and the
unseen architectures of power.
Rooted in experiences of post-war Việt Nam and informed by post-internet
thinking, his practice engages questions of memory, identity, and resilience;
inviting reflection on the convergences of the self and the social.
-Written by the artist
Trần Quang Đại’s MA final project for RCA’s 2026 Contemporary Arts programme speaks to what conceptual art seeks to achieve - reflection and reimagining.
The work features 365 metal pins, each representing a day in the artist's life for the past year. On a final pin, sits an accumulation of a year’s worth of receipts.
Artist Review By Zena Flores-Montague
Trần Quang Đại uses these receipts as a way to access memory, where otherwise none may exist. His view is that days go by where we remember little or nothing. However, those things that we do recall are carefully archived. And while the event of it may no longer exist, a trace of it does - such as in the form of a simple receipt. The print on the receipts is also designed to fade over time, which further speaks to the transient impermanence of life’s moments.
Representing purchases of groceries, transport, stationary, and other similar transactions, upon first glance, the mini windows into the artists life seem benign and uninteresting. Simple daily happenings that we do without thought. However, the artist encourages us to consider that it is in these simple happenings, that the essence of our existence comes to be.
The artist also alludes to relationships between small elements and powerful forces. The 365 metal pins facing upright together create an imposing effect, with celestial power being lent in the form of a hot sun streaming through glass walls, lighting precision cut window shaped subsections.
The concept is striking. As we are transported by these unassuming pins and little sheets of paper into a world of memories and time, that then translate into little moment we often overlook.
This is because, only a minority of our moments are truly cherished. Like our wedding day, the day our child is born or the day we graduate. Here, Đại is lending importance to all those things that happen in-between. What we do on these days, makes us who we are. We are asked, therefore, to give each day the awareness it deserves. To appreciate the power it carries singularly, to benefit the power exuded together. In doing this, we create a diverse archive filled with precious moments we can reflect on, and become better equipped to live each day like it counts - because it does.
Portrait picture by Wenyu Yang
Installation documentation pictures by Bowen Tang
Information
12 August - 16 June 2026 (from A Year)/ RCA MA Contemporary Art Practice 2026
Coverage by The Urgency of Art Magazine.