The Ship of Razzle & Dazzle

During the First World War, Great Britain was suffering heavy losses day by day. Their naval boats are constantly sunk by Germany's U-boats that would have included food and military supplies from other countries en route to the British Isles.

On 1917, an artist helped Britain win the war at sea. It started not with a special bomb nor an earth-shattering tactical strategy. 

It was a dazzling idea. 

Last week I had the rare privilege of being invited and dazzled aboard a 97-year old ship. As soon as I heard of the opportunity to get in one, the arts and history geek inside of me was screaming like a little girl.

HMS President (1918), one of only three surviving Royal Navy warships from the First World War, was 'dazzled' by the artist Tobias Rehberger. The astounding unique result floating along the river of Thames was a reminder of the crucial role played by the ships during the time of war.

'Dazzle' consisted of complex and bizarre patterns of geometric shapes and figures and bright colours that would appear to interrupt and intersect each other. A WW1 boat trying to conceal from the vastly superior German U-boats would be near to impossible. Therefore the artist Edward Wadsworth thought it would be best to 'dazzle' the enemy. This type of camouflage used disorientating shapes to make it harder for enemy submarines to gauge the directions and speed in which the ship was travelling. There were more than 2,000 ships 'dazzled' during the First World War.

The event was organised by '14-18 Now' and featured talks from Professor Chris Wainwright of UAL and the ship's Captain Chris Cooper. The theme for the 'dazzle' for the HMS President is to show the 'insides' of the ship, thus showing pipes and tubes intersecting each other. According to Professor Chris, it was both 'logistic and artistic challenge.' The team worked on the ship with various tides, weather, and even sometimes working at 3 in the morning.

Dazzle Ship, Tobias Rehberger, 2014. Image credit - Stephen White

The best thing about the 'Dazzle Ship in London', apart from being one of the biggest art installation that you could actually be on, is that it is part of war history altogether. It is free to visit and have a feel of what it was like being on a 'dazzle ship', minus the war of course.

If the dazzle painting was enough to attract the interest of artists such as Pablo Picasso, I'm not surprised I was left massively razzled and dazzled. 

Notes:

Learn more about the project here -> link. 

HMS President is located on Victoria Embankment close to Temple. Go to Blackfriars or the South Bank of the river for the best views.

BBC Special here -> link.