In Plain Sight transforms a boat into a ‘Dazzle’ camouflage-inspired work of art that will operate on Lake Burley Griffin for 12 months, coinciding with Floriade Festival in September and commencing as part of the Contour 556 Festival 2016 in October 2016.
The MV Gull is a small cruise boat which ordinarily operates a regular schedule of tours through most of the year. It will become a mobile work of art accessible to the public for tours of the lake. The activation of this artwork seeks to primarily explore ideas around stealth and surveillance. Using bright, bold mixed patterns the transformed vessel will invite attention while simultaneously interfering with the viewer’s perception of its form and detail. The location of Contour 556 is significant in relation to the work. While it travels across the lake the artwork is flanked by Canberra’s major military and surveillance hubs and is in close proximity to military hardware suppliers. Cruise passengers can catch glimpses of the new ASIO building, the ADSD and other Defence agencies from the cruise, as well as Parliament House. In Plain Sight will reflect back from the lake, as a moving surveillance hub. While the view into the passenger cabin is always obscured by pattern, the view from within is maintained.
ABOUT CONTOUR 556:
Contour 556: interventions in the landscape is a three week public art festival, on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra in October 2016. It takes place around the major cultural institutions, the National Library of Australia; the National Gallery of Australia, the High Court of Australia and the Kingston Arts Precinct. It features fifty local, national and international artists, encompassing artworks, performances, sound installations, music, and digital projections responding to the layers of Canberra’s history. Contour 556 will interrogate the relationships between artworks and space; artists and the public; and the ways in which art, performance and play can influence how the public perceive and remember space. The event is the first of its kind for the Canberra region, and there is scope to see it become a biennial fixture in the visual arts calendar, attracting local, national and international visitors.
ABOUT DAZZLE CAMOUFLAGE:
‘Dazzle’ camouflage was a camouflage technique developed for ships during the first World War and believed to have been initiated by a British marine painter. In essence the concept works differently to military field camouflage where the aim is to conceal. In ‘Dazzle’ camouflage the goal is essentially to disrupt or confuse the viewer’s perception. In the case of ships, they could not be hidden on the ocean but through pattern and colour the ships form itself could appear altered and thus harder to target effectively.
Your support of this project will allow me to dynamically transform this boat into an artwork that will have an active presence on Lake Burley Griffin for the next 12 months. Your support also enables a direct participatory experience for audiences and extends and widens the reach of this work. Your donation is also fully tax deductible!
