Solo exhibition by Albert Yonathan Setyawan
Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
6 October – 5 November 2023
Mizuma Gallery is pleased to announce Capturing Silence, a solo exhibition by Albert Yonathan Setyawan at Jogja National Museum (JNM), Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Capturing Silence is a survey exhibition of selected works of Albert Yonathan Setyawan curated by the artist himself. The exhibition will showcase Setyawan’s works from as early as 2008 to the most recent ones. Setyawan started his practice in Bandung in 2007 soon after he graduated from the Faculty of Art and Design in Bandung Institute of Technology. In 2012, he relocated to Japan to pursue his study in contemporary ceramic practice at the Ceramic Art Department in Kyoto Seika University. He has since been living in Japan and is now based in Tokyo. Setyawan primarily works with ceramics, although he does not shy away from using and experimenting with other mediums such as drawing, video, and performance.
In this exhibition, the artist tries to review and re-contextualize his practice from the points of view of phenomenology and the study of material imagination. In his view, understanding the materiality of clay is a pivotal aspect to understand the overall scope of his practice. Setyawan poetically sees the repetitive nature of his work as an act of “capturing silence”. He uses the word “silence” to address the idea that any matter has a tendency to draw us into its interiority. “Silence” in his analysis, is this interiority of matter. To Setyawan, clay/ceramic reminds him of the idea of a “body”. The word “body” is not to be understood only as a human corporeal body but also as a formal embodiment of an abstract thing. He sees his ceramic practice as an embodied experience from which the final ceramic objects themselves serve as traces of this activity and process. Setyawan works repetitively using slip casting as his main method of production. He sees the importance of working and being involved directly in the process himself without the aid of any studio assistants, calling this as a form of “art labour”. Each of his ceramic works is a collection of small-sized ceramic objects (no larger than the size of our hands) configured into geometric patterns. They invoke a sense of stillness amongst the viewers. Setyawan draws his inspiration from traditional ornaments and symbols across diverse cultural and religious practices, and reimagines them to seem as though they carry some form of religious meaning. However, Setyawan’s individual ceramic objects are highly idiosyncratic in nature and their meaning stems from the artist’s own imagination.
Capturing Silence presents more than 90 works that the artist himself had selected for this exhibition, which will be presented not chronologically, but rather, based on certain themes and ideas that he has been exploring over the course of 15 years of his practice. To accompany his own writing, Setyawan had invited three other writers to collaborate with him in writings. These three writers are: Tan Siuli, an independent curator based in Singapore; Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani, an independent curator and writer based in Bangkok, Thailand; and Nurdian Ichsan, an artist, curator, and educator based in Bandung, Indonesia. Their written contributions to the reading and analysis of the exhibition and the overall practice of the artist will be printed in the exhibition catalogue that will be published during the final week of the exhibition.
Capturing Silence will run from 6 October to 5 November 2023 at Jogja National Museum (JNM), Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Admission tickets to the exhibition can be obtained through direct purchase at the venue every day during operating hours, 10am to 9pm. Admission tickets are priced at Rp. 50,000.00 /pax. Information and registration for the Public Programme will be made available at a later date on our Instagram page @capturing.silence.
About the Artist
Albert Yonathan Setyawan (b. 1983, Bandung, Indonesia) graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology with an MFA in Ceramics in 2012. Following that, he moved to Kyoto, Japan, to continue his research and training in contemporary ceramic art at Kyoto Seika University, from which he received his doctoral degree in 2020. He has participated in several major exhibitions such as the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2017); and Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia (2019). Setyawan has undertaken artist residencies at Canberra’s Strathnairn Arts Association, Australia (2016); and The Japan Foundation at Shigaraki Ceramics Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan (2009). His works are in the collections of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; Tumurun Private Museum, Solo, Indonesia; POLA Museum Annex, Tokyo, Japan; OHD Museum, Magelang, Indonesia; Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; and Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan. Setyawan has built his artistic practice mainly in the field of contemporary ceramic art, however, at the same time he also translates his conceptual ideas into various mediums such as drawing, multi-media installation, performance, and video documentation. Setyawan currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.
Visitor Information
Exhibition Title:
Capturing Silence: Solo Exhibition by Albert Yonathan Setyawan
Exhibition Dates:
6 October – 5 November 2023
Venue:
Jogja National Museum (JNM), Jl. Prof. Ki Amri Yahya No. 1, Gampingan, Pakuncen, Wirobrajan Yogyakarta 55253, Indonesia
Operating Hours:
• Opening (By Invitation Only): Friday, 6 October 2023
• Public: Saturday, 7 October to Sunday, 5 November 2023; Monday to Sunday, 10am to 9pm
Admission Fee:
Admission tickets will be available at the venue, and are valid for one-time entry.
• Price: IDR 50,000 /pax.
Public Programme
Artist Tour:
• Saturday, 7 October 2023, 1.30pm-3pm & 4pm-5.30pm
• Saturday, 4 November 2023, 2.30pm-4pm & 5.30pm-7pm
Book Launch and Artist & Writers Talk:
• Sunday, 5 November 2023, 3pm-5pm
Kindly note that this schedule is tentative and may be subject to change. Updates about the Public Programme and information about the registration will be made available at a later date on our Instagram page @capturing.silence
For all press inquiries, contact
Singapore:
Theresia Irma
+65 6570 2505
press@mizuma.sg
Indonesia:
Amelberga Astri P.
+62 818 0274 0296
Follow us on Instagram
@capturing.silence
@albertyonathansetyawan
@mizumaartgallery
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