For this special project at ZENBI (Kagizen Art Museum), Albert Yonathan Setyawan sets his attention into sugar, the main ingredient for the production of Japanese sweets (wagashi) or dried confectionery that has been one of the main aspects of the Kagizen family business in Kyoto for over 300 years.
Fascinated by the process, which involves the use of hand-carved wooden molds to press the sugar into a variety of delicate animal and floral forms and design.Setyawan creatively uses some of these forms by reproducing them both in ceramics, something he has already familiar with and in fine-grained Japanese sugar (wasanbon). Using these forms Setyawan produces several repetitive geometric designs that are intricate and meditative, invoking a sense of intimacy and strangeness at the same time.
“Sugar Poetry” is Setyawan’s poetic reflection on these contradictory aspects centered around the process of transforming ordinary ingredient such as sugar into something of cultural significance. This exhibition also presents Setyawan’s exploration on the ephemeral aspect of this process through other media such as drawings, video and interactive performance.