A Vampire Crab, an endemic species to Penang Hill featured in Koh and Aw's 'Crab Chronicles' series. Photo: Koh Kai Ting and Aw Boon Xin
In early 2024, multidisciplinary art duo Koh Kai Ting and Aw Boon Xin released a two-part experience titled Symbiosis: Realising Our Kinship With All Beings.
By using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) as platforms for storytelling, the artists created the experiences to explore the relationship between humans and the natural world, with a focus on humanity.
Within the context of Penang’s rich biodiversity and marine heritage, the experiences contribute to speculative ecology and suggest notions of a harmonious co-existence of all beings through kinship.
Part one of Symbiosis is titled Zoomorphism, and was an on-site AR activation where viewers got to “hold” and “touch” creatures, as a way to offer a glimpse into the symbiotic existence of natural and artificial convergence.
The experience received much praise and engagement from visitors, especially younger audiences who were able to interact with the digital creatures.
The act of caring
“With Zoomorphism, we wanted to tap into aspects of humanity through touch. One important feature is that the viewer can hold the creatures in their hands and gently pick them up. Touch is an important sense we rely on to interact with the things around us, especially for children to help develop a positive relationship with nature. Zoomorphism allows us to interact with these creatures without harming them in the process,” said Koh, 28, in a recent interview.
Zoomorphism was particularly driven by the act of caring – both as an emotional reaction and an expression of action.
The Johor-based artists integrated this concept into the experience to encourage viewers to interact with the digital creatures with careful and considered gestures as a way to help them apply the practice in their daily lives.
At the exhibition fffluid apparatus: At The Intersection Of The Human, The Natural, And The Machine, which recently concluded at Rumah Tangsi in Kuala Lumpur, the duo showcased two works – Manvantara (2024), a hand casting series with AR activation, and the ongoing Zoomorphism series.
They joined a South-East Asian and Korean line-up of contemporary artists, each exploring different forms of intelligence and their intersections amid current crises and future visions.
“While all our works are different, there is one underlying principle and that is our practice is related to post-human studies, in particular by Donna Haraway, who suggests that kinship is not only blood-tied, but can be developed with every being and creature by a gesture of care. So we try to integrate this concept into all of our works,” said Koh.
Into the sea
Part two of Symbiosis is called Crab Chronicles, a virtual-reality experience created as part of the artist’s participation in the 2023 - 2024 Cahaya XR Annual Mentorship in George Town, Penang.
Using AR and VR, the artists Koh and Aw crafted experiences exploring humanity’s relationship with nature. Photo: Koh Kai Ting and Aw Boon Xin
Cahaya XR is an initiative of Maitree, a digital studio based in Penang and Australia which specialises in immersive storytelling and museology. The initiative serves as a platform that provides access to XR tools, mentorship and education programmes and workshops for local and regional artists, as a pathway to guide artists into the world of innovative storytelling, and to increase greater representation of South-East Asian stories in the Meta-verse.
It was during this programme that Koh and Aw conducted fieldwork at The Habitat Penang Hill and three fishing villages in Penang. The result of their fieldwork is encapsulated in Crab Chronicles, a deeply emotive and reflective VR experience that weaves in their observations, interviews, community stories and contemporary challenges whilst shedding light on our relationship with natural heritage.
The latter is a lesser-advocated issue in Penang, especially in recent years surrounding land reclamation projects and their effects on local fishermen.
The title itself holds much symbolic significance on the nature of the project as a whole.
“There is one episode of SpongeBob where Mr Krabs decides to publish his own newspaper titled ‘Crab Chronicles’ which makes fun of policies and environmental issues. We joked about it but we found much inspiration from it as it was critical of capitalism. We chose to call this experience Crab Chronicles even before the work was developed because it gave us a sense of direction and shaped our approach on capitalism and the landscape of nature,” said Aw, 29.
The spirit of the duo’s work stems from their research interests as individual artists.
Artists Aw (left) and Koh mix their work in AR with various mediums, including sculptural installation, and site-specific interactivity. Photo: Beverly Yong
Aw’s curiosity about humanity began at a very young age watching old movies and TV programmes on indigenous communities in China.
“I was fascinated to see how similar they were despite their differences. This interest propelled me to study in China as I wanted to see how true this representation was. Living in the city creates distance from people like the farmers; the value of hard work, working with our hands – it’s very different from city life. I also wanted to learn about their mindset, thoughts about nature, the weather and approach to a more grounded living. This informs my practice as an artist - on how we can continue to develop our relationship with nature,” said Aw.
Diving into marine heritage
Koh, on the other hand, is passionate about marine heritage, stemming from her childhood of frequenting the sea and visiting communities whose livelihoods depended on it.
“From a young age, I have always wondered about how we can reconnect with the sea and our marine heritage. When my father was at work, at times the villagers would take care of me; they had a lot of animisme practices in the community so I was acquainted with these practices since childhood.
“My research interests gradually focused on the practice of animism, especially in Peninsula Malaysia. In 2016, my interests evolved to pre-Islamic animism in Malaysia and I found that crabs were often used to explain a lot of narratives,” shared Koh.
It was also in 2016 when Koh participated in the Pulau Ketam International Art Festival where she set up a print-making studio and conducted workshops. At one of these workshops, she reconnected with Aw, which became the beginning of the artist’s journey as a duo.
Part one of 'Symbiosis' is titled Zoomorphism, an on-site AR activation where viewers get to ‘hold’ and ‘touch’ creatures. Photo: Koh Kai Ting and Aw Boon Xin
In 2018, Koh returned to Pulau Ketam for a year-long residency where she found herself deeply entrenched in the notion of everything evolving into crab-like forms. Her continued research into local folklore, mythology and science further developed her understanding of crabs influencing both the natural and human history.
This became the central theme for Crab Chronicles, drawn from Koh’s interests and examinations of crabs, and Aw’s passion for human relationships with nature. Together, the artists have created a virtual reality experience that highlights a deep kinship between humans and crabs, evoking a sense of nostalgia, heaviness for what has been lost, and hope for what can be done for the future.
Post Symbiosis, the artists have kept busy with several projects, including the fffluid apparatus group show in KL.
They also presented a multimedia series (Kanci Terbang) at the recent What Tigers Dream Of, When The Kancil Roars? exhibition at GMBB in KL in August, which explored Wawasan 2020 and sets the stage for a five-year curatorial project aimed at redefining the concept of “South-East Asian Futurism”.
They are also curated a show in August for the Singapore Night Festival titled “Beras Basah”, which delved into rice as more than just food, highlighting its deep connection to our culture and heritage.
Crab Chronicles can be experienced here, under “Symbiosis”. The work is created by Koh and Aw, with poetry by Noyona, sound design by Kicau-Bilau, and is produced by Maitree.
