Liverpool Biennial and Tate Liverpool jointly commissioned kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez to interpret the idea of "dazzle camouflage" applied to the hull of a ship in Liverpool's Albert Dock. The project was a collaboration between the Liverpool Biennial and the Tate Liverpool, in partnership with the National Museum Liverpool and the 14-18 NOW (First World War Centenary Art Commission). Cruz-Diez designed a Double-frequency Chromatic Induction for the "Edmund Gardner" Ship, a Pilot Cutter from 1953 conserved by Merseyside Maritime Museum. Chromatic induction is associated with the phenomenon known as retinal persistence effect, in which color is present and absent at the same time in a virtual state that is as real as the pigment used on the surface of the ship. Dazzle Camouflage will be remembered during the Biennial to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Dazzle consists of a phenomenon that disrupts visual perception. It was invented by British painter Norman Wilkinson (1878–1971), who conceived the designs in order to camouflage British war ships through complex geometric weaves, using high-contrasting colors that interrupted and crossed over each other. This camouflaging approach was widely used as a deceiving tactic during the two World Wars. Unlike other forms of camouflage, the "Dazzle" approach did not aim at completely hiding the ships, but rather at provoking confusion among the enemy, as their submarines would lose their ability to establish the shape of the ships, their sensitive points and the direction of their trajectories, when viewed through the periscope—thus disabling their ability to use their torpedoes. In order to avoid recognition, each ship had a unique design. Dazzle Ships Art today is revived in this proposal by Cruz-Diez, an important figure in the field of Kinetic art. His chromatic research has considerably widened the perceptive universe of art, demonstration that color does not depend on form. His works are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA); Tate Modern, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, among others. The Liverpool Biennial will remain open to the public until October, 2014.
http://www.biennial.com/ http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool www.cruz-diez.com