JACKSON TAN:
I think ‘Control Chaos’ is very much a seminal piece for PHUNK because it's the piece that inspired our trajectory as artists. It was the start of our universe and our narrative.
PRESENTER:
That’s Jackson Tan, one of the four members of Singapore-based art and design collective PHUNK, who created this vibrant video installation. It’s a new, animated version of a piece from a 2003 street art-inspired exhibition, that was silkscreened on corrugated cardboard. Its title, ‘Control Chaos’, reflects how PHUNK saw both their creative process, and the state of the world at the time.
There are quite a few inspirations behind the piece; everything from Chinese mythology and Hong Kong martial arts TV dramas, to urban landscapes and street art subcultures from across Asia—and beyond. Jackson told us more.
JACKSON TAN:
We liked the idea of the Ying and Yang in Chinese philosophy. And we always believe that you need both, so you need destruction in order to get creation. But we thought maybe it's an interesting balance between these both, and both sides always constantly trying to struggle and try to fight each other. And it's also very interesting to look at it from a Singaporean lens, you know, because Singapore is known to be so-called very much a controlled state in way, especially in the 90s.
The other thing that really influenced us is also like looking at Hong Kong at the time. There's a lot of, designers and illustrators that were moving from just doing design to doing street art and doing fine art.
And there was a transition period, where instead of just looking to the west for inspirations, a lot of the things that were happening were looking to the east actually, and seeing how the east’s mythology, the folklore, you know, the tales and morals can be reflected in these so-called contemporary settings.
PRESENTER:
And these inspirations and themes, woven through both the original ‘Control Chaos’ and the piece before us today, have stayed with PHUNK across their journey.
JACKSON TAN:
I think it's very much a part of our soul, you know, ‘Control Chaos’ is always within us. So, we are just basically expanding on that world and expanding on that universe when we are creating other pieces of work in PHUNK.
