In Conversation with Aw Boon Xin
Courtsey of Artists
Koh Kai Ting and Aw Boon Xin are co-founders of 2point013, an art-tech collective exploring worldbuilding, XR, and marine heritage. Their practice merges ecology, heritage, and immersive media to question dominant knowledge systems. They have exhibited locally and internationally, including at Art Jog and Georgetown Festival. Based between Singapore and Malaysia, they work closely with communities through storytelling, speculative archives, and experimental digital forms that blur the lines between art, technology, and lived experience.
I had the pleasure of asking Aw Boon about what artists do they have their eye on and what makes their art worth noticing, what made them want to become a duo with Koh Kai Ting, and so much more
UZOMAH: How would you explain your artmaking process to someone who is not familiar with your work?
Aw Boon: Honestly, I’d say our process is a bit like storytelling. We start with a story, a memory, or even a myth, and then we think: how can this live in today’s world? That’s where AR and VR come in — they’re like tools to extend the story into new dimensions.
U: How does your innovative use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) help you better address themes such as human-nature kinship?
AB: AR and VR allow us to collapse distance—between humans and the nonhuman, myth and science, memory and imagination. These tools don’t just illustrate kinship; they immerse the audience in it, making them participants in interspecies encounters rather than spectators. For example, instead of just showing a forest or a sea creature, we let you walk into its world, interact with it, even become them for a while. It makes the idea of “kinship” less abstract and more personal.
U: Can you name an artist currently in the art world that you have your eye on? What makes their art worth taking notice of?
AB: Yee I-Lann, for sure. Her work with the Ēikar (woven mat) is especially powerful because it takes something rooted in everyday communal life and turns it into a sharp commentary on power structures. The mat represents openness, horizontality, and community, while she contrasts it with the “table,” which symbolizes authority, colonial and patriarchal systems, and hierarchy. What makes her art worth noticing is how it bridges the intimate and the political—you don’t just look at her work, you feel the social histories and the possibilities of healing that she’s trying to bring into the present. It’s about gathering, sharing, and shifting perspectives, but also about reclaiming space and rethinking power dynamics. I love how her work brings people together while still being super sharp and political.
Jiwa Laut by Aw Boon Xin & Koh Kai Ting (Image courtesy of HeritageSG)
U: How do you balance your artistic vision with the technical limitations of a platform or project?
AB: Oh, that’s a constant tug-of-war! Usually, we dream big first, then slowly peel back to see what’s possible. But sometimes, the limitations actually push us into more creative solutions — like finding a metaphor that works even better.
U: How do you overcome the impossible in your art?
AB: By not taking “impossible” too seriously. We like to test things, break things, and see what happens. Sometimes failure opens up something unexpected — which is kind of the point of experimenting.
Jiwa Laut by Aw Boon Xin & Koh Kai Ting (Image courtesy of HeritageSG)
U: Is there anything that art does for you that has significantly impacted your personal growth?
AB: Definitely. Making art forces us to slow down and notice connections we might miss otherwise. When you work with mythology, ecology, and other beings, you begin to understand that human experience is not the center of the world. That shift has deeply shaped both our personal and collective growth.
U: Working with another artist, how does the decision process go in what stays and goes in the final piece of the artwork?
AB: It’s like cooking together — sometimes you both agree instantly, sometimes you argue about the spice level. But we usually trust each other’s instincts and try to find the middle ground that feels true to both of us.
We test ideas through sketches, models, or digital mock-ups, and the work itself usually “tells” us what belongs. The final piece emerges through negotiation, trust, and listening.
U: What is the best aspect of creating with another artist?
AB: Having someone to bounce wild ideas off. Alone, you might dismiss a thought as too crazy, but with a partner, those crazy ideas often grow into the strongest part of the work. Collaboration means never being alone in your imagination.
Jiwa Laut by Aw Boon Xin & Koh Kai Ting (Image courtesy of HeritageSG)
U: As a duo, the incorporation of metaphors and symbols from traditional folklore and mythology, such as zoomorphic imagery and shadow puppetry elements, adds a certain depth to the storytelling process of your artwork. How do you find a way to keep the artwork a narrative journey that the audience can go on and be a part of, with all the references in the art?
AB: We try not to overload the work with references. Instead, we leave “entry points” — small moments where audiences can step into the story. Myth and folklore act as anchors, but technology lets the audience take part—touching, moving, or reorienting the experience.
For example, in our Jiwa LauĒ work for the Singapore Night Festival, we drew from sea folklore of the Malay world—the story of PusaĒ Tasek, the cosmic crabs that inhabit the ocean. I love the idea of the cosmic crabs at the ocean’s center, where seawater rushes into a hole beneath the crabs to create the tides—it’s such a charming way of imagining natural phenomena. By weaving them in our installation, we invite the audience to sense how myth and ecology are inseparable, and hopefully to feel like they’re journeying through the story with us.
U: What made you want to become a duo with Kai Ting?
AB: We’ve known each other since high school, and over time we realised that we think really differently—but in ways that actually complement each other. Working together
just felt natural. Our strengths balance out: Kai Ting brings this strong sense of story and a curatorial eye, while I focus more on form and material. Somewhere along the way, the conversations we were having became the work itself.
U: Is there anything that stands out about Kai Ting as an artist that you admire?
AB: Definitely. She has an incredible eye for detail, story, and symbolism. She’ll pick up on the smallest thing—like how a myth ties back to a plant, or how a tiny gesture shifts meaning—and suddenly it opens up a whole new layer in the work. It pushes me to see things differently and keeps me on my toes.
For more information about present and future projects by Koh Kai Ting and Aw Boon Xin and their organzaitons f 2point013 please find them here on Instagram for updates.
