Member Article

IFB display Dazzles Tourism Minister

Painters from shipyard and engineering services company Cammell Laird have been working for three weeks on Dazzle Ship, a co-commission by Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool and 14-18 NOW WW1 Centenary Art Commission to work with the idea of dazzle camouflage using an historic pilot ship conserved by Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Renowned 91-year old Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez has been commissioned to dazzle the Edmund Gardner situated in dry dock adjacent to Liverpool’s Albert Dock.

The ship will be visible throughout the International Festival for Business 2014 and is accompanied by a display exploring the history of Dazzle Ships and the role of artists in the First World War.

Tourism Minister Helen Grant MP, who was in Liverpool for IFB2014’s Mind the Gap: Addressing the Tourism divide conference at the Museum of Liverpool, said: “It was great to be in Liverpool speaking about tourism at the International Festival for Business.

“It’s important that we do all we can to encourage tourists to come and visit great cities like Liverpool and experience the fantastic, arts, cultural and sporting offer that Merseyside boasts. It was also fascinating to visit the Dazzle Ship that will form part of the city’s significant contribution to the First World War Centenary commemorations.”

Dazzle painting was a system for camouflaging ships that was introduced in early 1917, at a time when German submarines were threatening to cut off Britain’s trade and supplies. The idea was not to hide the ships, but to paint them in such a way that their appearance was optically distorted, so that it was difficult for a submarine to calculate the course the ship was travelling on, and so know from what angle to attack.

The dazzle was achieved by painting the ship in contrasting stripes and curves that broke up its shape. Characterised by garish colours and a sharp patchwork design of interlocking shapes, the spectacular ‘dazzle’ style was heavily indebted to Cubism.

In addition to Cammell Laird, Liverpool based organisations Weightmans and International Paint Ltd are also supporting Dazzle Ship.

The Dazzle Ship will remain in the camouflage until the end of 2015 when she will be returned to her original Edmund Gardner livery.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .