Control Chaos: Redefining the Visual Cultures of Asia

by PHUNK , interviewer Justin Zhuang (Thames & Hudson)

As curator Shirley Surya tells it in her introductory essay to Control Chaos, Singaporean creative collective PHUNK was born of the global intermingling of pop culture of the 1990s and early 2000s. Describing themselves as a ‘visual rock band’, they ‘sampled, or remixed, diverse stories, genres and techniques’ to create their signature style.

This book celebrates PHUNK’s 25th anniversary, and came into being through Surya’s efforts to include the studio’s work in the collection of new visual culture museum M+, which is itself a multilayered story of physical reproduction and collective remembering. The textual core is the four interviews with PHUNK by Design Anthology contributor Justin Zhuang, which cover the group’s origins, redefinition of design and authorship, geographical and disciplinary interconnections, and the update of the titular work — which emerged in the wake of the Asian financial crisis and SARS — in the context of the current turbulence. A 2013 essay by curator Valerie C Doran adds further context. Of course, imagery is at the forefront, with PHUNK’s full gamut and influences on display, from humorous to confronting, from two-colour block-print style to Renaissance chiaroscuro — but always with the boldness that has come to define them.