Art as an Act of Homemaking

Talk

Bow Arts (London)

October 9, 2025

Preview of Kakilang commission and panel on migrant creative infrastructure in London.

A first-cut screening of the video sculpture 2025PCM (2025) was presented at Bow Arts in London, fulfilling a commission by contemporary arts organization Kakilang. The presentation was accompanied by a panel discussion with Howl Yuan (Artistic Director, Kakilang) and Leah Jun Oh (Bow Arts), addressing the intersections between London’s housing crisis, art studio shortages, and the structural challenges faced by ESEA and migrant artists.

Designed for 90-degree building facades, 2025PCM combines physical performance and architectural projection mapping to depict a hyper-compressed, one-cubic-meter flat fully furnished for living. Rooted in lived experiences of rising living costs and constant relocation, the short film uses absurdity to examine the destabilizing financialization of urban life and particularly its effects on the individual.

Interactive projection-mapped installation

Multichannel video sculpture

Xin-1.0.36(2026)

Video

2026

Personhood, Version FourMVR Gallery (Ithaca, NY)Solo Exhibition

Self—ish, a Solo ExhibitionHelix Art Space (Stockholm, Sweden)Solo Exhibition

2025

Silent InterferenceFengling Commercial Building (Taoyuan, Taiwan)Exhibition

AI as an Art MaterialHelix Art Space (Stockholm, Sweden)Talk

Alternative Roots FestivalHoxton Hall (London, UK)Exhibition

Art as an Act of HomemakingBow Arts (London)Talk

Personhood at Speculum ArtiumDelavski dom Trbovlje (Trbovlje, Slovenia)Exhibition

2024

Personhood at Asian Art MuseumAsian Art Museum (San Francisco)Solo Exhibition

Into the FutureWhitespace Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland)Exhibition

The Kakilang 2025 CommissionKakilang (London, UK)Commission

Technarte ConferencePalacio Euskalduna (Bilbao, Spain)Talk

2023

BEAM at Royal Society of SculptorsRoyal Society of Sculptors (London, UK)Exhibition

CIRCA2023 Public Vote PrizePiccadilly Lights (London, UK)Award

Screening at Piccadilly LightsPiccadilly Lights (London, UK)Screening

Ars Electronica FestivalAtelierhaus Salzamt (Linz, Austria)Exhibition

ART-ACT FestivalTen Square (Singapore)Exhibition

Agawen is the studio practice of J. Aga (PH) and Xin Wen (CN/US). Their collaboration began in London, where they completed a joint postgraduate programme between the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. They made their artistic debut during a term abroad in Singapore, followed by a UK debut later that year on the Piccadilly Lights, which received the CIRCA Public Vote Prize.

Their current body of work is about how contemporary life is structurally determined by cities and screens, and it draws from their experience as diasporic artists and their technical foundation as design-engineers. Their experimental videos, kinetic sculptures, and immersive installations have been exhibited at the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, USA), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), Helix Art Space (Stockholm, Sweden), and Speculum Artium (Trbovlje, Slovenia).

Formerly XJ.