Postcolonial-multicultural Present
Many have tried to describe the contemporary Asian identity, notably, that of Southeast Asia in its multicultural present. With its postcolonial multicultural heritage, countries like Singapore and Malaysia find it difficult to pinpoint a single identity.

Oligocultural Vs Multicultural
Although many of the ex-colonial powers such as France and Britain pride themselves as multicultural societies, their multiculturalness is characterised by the assimilation of the minorities into the majority. Such attempts might be iterated as a political ideology but it is rarely demonstrated via political deed. Singapore and Malaysia, however, chose to act by political deed and its policies are guided by a vision where the four main ethnic groups live in peace, side by side, with equal respect for each other’s festivals, religions, traditions and practices. Although touted as a multicultural approach, the two societies have in fact taken an oligocultural path. The commitment to peace and harmony amongst all ethnic groups have no less than the bloody ethnic riots in the 60s as a painful and valuable lesson to keep. Even as the younger generation forget that an explosion only need a spark, the political powers have not. The major public holidays could be seen as a reflection of this political commitment to cast in stone the importance of ethnic harmony and equality.

Out of this backdrop erupts an interesting artistic approach. Whereas the dominant culture of nations such as the UK and France finds itself enriched by the exotic elements from the minority groups, the Singaporean and Malaysian society simply takes all the elements of the different cultures in unbiased quantities - in the true spirit of democracy – to create a distinctive cultural rojak*.

You are You
Recent works from young artists seem to underline this approach. The next generation have gone beyond the heritage baggage of their forefathers to move on and stake their own identity. This identity takes into account - effortlessly - the past, present and future. One such dimension comes from the recent work of :phunk studio** from Singapore.

The exhibition is “Control Chaos”. As best described by the creators, “It is a place influenced by the pugilistic world of 80's Hong Kong TV serial. Using their own visual vocabulary, the collective renders a dysfunctional/apocalyptic take on the classic tales of good versus evil set in the backdrop of heaven, earth and hell.” The resulting imagery looks like someone placed a mishmash of Chinese folklore, Californian beach, tropical weather, slippers, trishaw riders, flower power and skyscrapers into a blender, and presto – out came the world of “Control Chaos”!


* Rojak (a Malay word) refers to many things mixed together or a type of salad.

** :phunk studio, a creative collective that works on collaborative art and design projects. They are constantly exploring and experimenting on different creative media and discipline. Their focus is to employ aesthetic intelligence to effectively communicate a visual idea or emotion. The Transmission project, their self-initiated multi-media publishing project was distributed worldwide at stores such as Colette (Paris) and Magma Books (London), putting Phunk (along with other local creative talents they invited) on the global map of design and creativity.

Phunk was featured in numerous international style and design publications such as I.D. (International Design), Tokion, XLR8R, Studio Voice, IdN and Soma. Recently, they were commissioned by Japanese streetwear label, 2K to design a series of graphics for their latest range of t-shirts alongside artists/designers such as Andy Warhol, Barry McGee, Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami.

Their inaugural exhibition in New York, titled Control Chaos was a runaway success with long queues forming outside The Reed Space gallery hours before the launch. All the work exhibited were sold out before the end of the exhibition.