At The Lobby in The Peninsula Hong Kong, movement rarely sees a pause. Yet, for the 2026 edition of “Art in Resonance,” ceramic artist Albert Yonathan Setyawan creates a quiet interruption. Presented during Hong Kong Art Month 2026, his installation “Metamorphic Modulation” invites reflection and stillness through a meditative enclosure.

Working between repetition and ritual, Albert Yonathan transforms clay into something both grounding and abstract. In collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, this year’s program continues The Peninsula Hotel’s dialogue between art and space, where, in this case, it asks visitors to step in, slow down, and let things be.

In our latest Artist Spotlight, The Beat Asia spoke with Albert Yonathan Setyawan as he dives into his practice, the importance of repetition and patterns, and the introspective qualities of ceramics.

Clay as a Medium for Meditation and Introspection

Ceramics are often seen as complete only once they are glazed — polished, sealed, and refined to a glowing sheen. Without it, the work can feel as though something is missing. But for Albert Yonathan Setyawan, that absence is exactly the point.

His practice centers on unglazed forms, embracing the clay’s natural textures and allowing the material to exist in its most honest state. Rather than conceal it, he lets its rawness speak for itself. As he puts it, glaze can feel “kind of superficial,” covering thin lines and details that were initially carved on the clay.

For him, this relationship with clay wasn’t incidental — it was something he arrived at with intention and chose to stay with.

Albert first encountered ceramics during his time in art school, after initially gravitating towards printmaking. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, the shift was immediate.

“On the last day that I had to choose, I went to the ceramic studio,” he recalls. “As soon as I went in, I realized that this is what I want. It was like a calling.”

What followed was not just years of practice, but a conscious decision to go deeper into his chosen field rather than wider — committing himself fully to a material that later allowed a space for reflection and meditation.

“I tend to stick to one thing, because I want to go deeper and understand more than what’s on the surface,” he said.

Over time, that engagement began to shift the way he understood ceramics; not just as a discipline, but as something more extensive. Partly influenced by Gaston Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space,” after reading it five to six years ago, Albert began to think more deeply and in terms of lived experience, where meaning is formed not just through theory, but through daily practice. He also began to ground his practice on authenticity and clarity — something he is incredibly intent on living up to.

“Clay is a way for me to talk about things,” he explained. “It’s like a metaphorical tool for me to approach philosophical concepts and ideas.”

While his work is often described in spiritual terms, Albert Yonathan Setyawan himself has gradually pivoted from that language.

“I used to use the word ‘spirituality’ to anchor my practice,” he started. “But it eventually became a cliché.”

There was an unspoken discomfort about this use of terminology, which eventually pushed him to re-examine the way he understood his own work — not as something abstract or transcendental, but as something grounded in material and process.

“It didn’t feel genuine to say that what I do is a spiritual practice,” Albert shared, as someone who considers himself to be more secular than spiritual. “From my point of view as the maker, it feels grounded in the physicalities of the material.”

What has remained constant, however, is his commitment to patterns and repetition — something he had always found a keen interest in, despite its unclear reasoning in the past. “Repetitions eventually communicate patterns, and these patterns allow for predictability,” he explained.

This grounding in material and process extends beyond the object itself. In Albert Yonathan Setyawan’s practice, it often unfolds through immersive installations, where people move through rather than simply observing.

On “Metamorphic Modulation”

Installed in The Lobby of The Peninsula Hong Kong, “Metamorphic Modulation” unravels within a space defined as much by movement as by pause. For Albert Yonathan Setyawan, creating a work for the space was not without its complexities.

“I felt all kinds of emotions,” he says of the process. “I was excited to work on it. At some point, I also felt annoyed because of the compromises I had to make.”

That tension — between vision and adaptation — shapes the work as much as the material itself. Rather than imposing a fixed narrative in the installation, Setyawan allows it to unfold through encounters, whether intentionally or by chance.

“I don’t have any particular target on what kind of emotions I want the audience to have,” he explained. “Instead, I hope the work can create the feeling of ‘slowing down.’”

From a distance, its repeated forms can draw the eye, but up close, its intricate details begin to surface, pulling viewers into an introspective world. “A space where people can just stop and breathe…and have a quiet moment in the middle of a busy hotel.”

This sense of stillness is often read as spiritual, though the artist frames it differently. If anything, it emerges from the discipline of making itself. Each one of the more than 700 ceramic pieces that form the installation was personally made by hand — an intentional constraint that keeps the work intimate despite its scale.

“I don’t want to make anything bigger than the size of my palm,” he said. “Everything has to come through my hand.”

The result is a structure that feels both architectural and deeply personal, built through repetition, time, and a sustained focus on process. Albert Yonathan Setyawan drew inspiration from a personal archive of symbols, ornaments, and images he saw from places like the Asian Civilization Museum in Singapore, and assembles forms that remain open in meaning.

“I want people to look at it and have different ideas about its symbolism and meaning,” he shared.

Even the act of installation becomes a part of this transformation. Created for a public setting rather than a traditional gallery, the work required a shift of approach — one that asked not only for precision, but for flexibility.

“Usually, the space is designed to accommodate the artwork,” he explained. “But in this case, I have to design the work in a way that fits the lobby space.”

Creating Ceramics to Engage and Resist

For Albert Yonathan Setyawan, the viewer is not separate from the work but folded into it — just as he is.

“The artist themselves is their first audience,” he said, recounting the experience of creating his works in his studio. His works often exceed the limits of his studio, and Setyawan rarely encounters his installations in full until they are exhibited. The act of seeing then becomes shared, an experience that unfolds in real time, even for the maker.

“Most of the time, I don’t get to see the work in full form until it’s installed,” he explained. This makes the encounter with the work intrinsically physical. It cannot be simply reduced to documentation or translation.

“Photographs don’t do justice,” he said, echoing the sentiments of his friends. “There’s always something missing — the tactile aspect, texture, the rawness of the material.”

Albert Yonathan Setyawan’s commitment to handmaking is a way of defiance to the current times, one that can be described as incredibly fast-paced and hyper-digital.

Art — no matter what their form — can be automated, easily replicated, and scaled with little friction. But Albert prefers to do it quietly, slowly, and personally.

“I see making as a resistance,” he says. “In this moment where I have all these other means to choose from, I choose to make with my hands.”

In this sense, his practice is not about perfection, but about presence — the quality of engaging fully with the act of making itself.

“I exist because I make, I make because I exist.”

Reflections on Resonance and Identity

As a Tokyo-based Indonesian artist, Albert Yonathan Setyawan is quite aware of how identity is framed within the global art landscape. While increased visibility for Southeast Asian artists has opened doors, he notes that it can also come with limitations.

“It’s great, but it always has this side effect of Southeast Asian artists being trapped in this category,” he said. “I can’t deny that at some point in time, it was the only way for us to go out and be recognized and have exposure outside. But I think it’s good up to a certain extent, and I think we’ve enjoyed it.”

While he did acknowledge the role this label has played in creating opportunities for artists in the region, he questions whether it risks becoming a boundary rather than a bridge for broader horizons.

“We need to look at the artist as an individual — not just as a Southeast Asian artist.”

“Art in Resonance” is The Peninsula Hong Kong’s global arts program, offering guests and visitors intriguing contemporary art encounters throughout the hotel. For Setyawan, this idea of “resonance” continues beyond form, space, or material. It becomes human — something shared.

“Resonance, to me, is equal to empathy,” he shared. It is the ability to recognize oneself in the experiences of others, even across distance — an awareness that what happens elsewhere is not separate but connected.

“If I can have some levels of empathy, understanding that their struggle is my struggle as well,” he said. “That level of understanding speaks about the kind of resonance that we have. I think it’s important that we look at it from that point of view.”

In this way, resonance is not just about harmony, but about alignment — a quiet calibration between people, places, and lived realities.

And perhaps, in the calmness of “Metamorphic Modulation,” that awareness begins not just as a statement, but as a feeling — one that lingers long after stepping away.

After his show at “Art in Resonance,” Albert Yonathan Setyawan is set to have a solo show in Jakarta, Indonesia, at Ara Contemporary this May 2026. “I’m quite excited for this one; it still has some elements of repetition, but it’s more architectural,” he said.

Learn more about Albert Yonathan Setyawan and his works by visiting his website and following him on Instagram.

Enjoyed this article? Check out our previous Artist Spotlight profiles here.