Stephanie Syjuco
Speculative Propositions:
A Visual Pattern Sampler
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Around the time of World War I, a peculiar form of marine-vessel camouflage
was developed as a tactical façade for British and American warships and
other watercraft. “Dazzle camouflage,” as it was known, did little to hide the
watercrafts themselves. Rather, it was designed to confuse enemy aim through
its chaotic black-and-white patterns. Vintage photographs of these ships provide
startling images of such graphic warfare. At the same time, the extreme angles
and cutout shapes, influenced as they were by Cubist experiments in painting,
recall a host of other art forms from Soviet Constructivism to ethnic and tribal
patterning, Op Art, and graphic design.
As an artist researching these images, I began speculating on the side effects
of these ships’ routes as globally operative vehicles of conquest and empire.
Their razzle-dazzle war-paint patterns not only camouflaged the ships; they
also acted as symbolic markers of dominance. I wondered: How might these
patterns have been altered or updated in the present era and transferred onto
other forms—modern architecture, commodity culture, or trade vehicles—as a
means of cross-pollination and hybridization across cultures and continents?
ABOVE The USS Leviathan, 1918. Photographed by the New York Navy Yard. US Naval History and
Heritage Command Photograph. http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-
list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-51000/NH-51392.html
What follows are my speculative experi-
ments with dazzle camouflage applied to a
range of objects: from Philippine jeepneys
(WWII-era American jeeps transformed into
vernacular public transport) to cargo-ship
containers carrying global commodities
produced by colonized labor forces; from
an improbable line of cheaply made IKEA
furniture to an Indonesian ikat weave
inserting itself into an Anni Albers textile.
The video Ornament and Crime (Villa
Savoye) wanders through a 3D digital
rendering of Le Corbusier’s iconic French
modernist building that has been haplessly
taken over, inside and out, by ethnic
Vietnamese and Algerian textile patterns.
Difficult to discern, its perfection ruined
by visual patterns that have their origin
in former French colonies, the building,
as it appears in my video, bears witness
to historical trauma and migration.
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The following speculative visual
propositions are mash-ups, flows
of images and patterns that collide
references to dazzle camouflage with
other contemporary visual forms.
What follows are my speculative experi-
ments with dazzle camouflage applied to a
range of objects: from Philippine jeepneys
(WWII-era American jeeps transformed into
vernacular public transport) to cargo-ship
containers carrying global commodities
produced by colonized labor forces; from
an improbable line of cheaply made IKEA
furniture to an Indonesian ikat weave
inserting itself into an Anni Albers textile.
The video Ornament and Crime (Villa
Savoye) wanders through a 3D digital
rendering of Le Corbusier’s iconic French
modernist building that has been haplessly
taken over, inside and out, by ethnic
Vietnamese and Algerian textile patterns.
Difficult to discern, its perfection ruined
by visual patterns that have their origin
in former French colonies, the building,
as it appears in my video, bears witness
to historical trauma and migration.
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The following speculative visual
propositions are mash-ups, flows
of images and patterns that collide
references to dazzle camouflage with
other contemporary visual forms.
Speculative Proposition: Contemporary cargo-container
ships adorned in dazzle camouflage, modern-day
“battleships” of capitalism and commerce.
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Speculative Proposition:
Painted jeepneys in a graphic
patterning that highlights
their hybrid pedigree (in the
Philippines, jeepneys are
leftover US Army jeeps-turned-
public transport).
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Speculative Proposition: Contemporary cargo-container
ships adorned in dazzle camouflage, modern-day
“battleships” of capitalism and commerce.
Speculative Proposition:
Painted jeepneys in a graphic
patterning that highlights
their hybrid pedigree (in the
Philippines, jeepneys are
leftover US Army jeeps-turned-
public transport).
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Speculative Proposition:
Mass-produced IKEA furniture
designs with disruptive patterning
applied to its surfaces.
Speculative Proposition:
Mass-produced IKEA furniture
designs with disruptive patterning
applied to its surfaces.
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Speculative Proposition: “Ornament and Crime,”
a 3D rendering of Le Corbusier’s iconic La Ville Savoye
in Poissy, France, wrapped in disruptive patterning culled
from textiles from former French colonies.
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Speculative Proposition: “Ornament and Crime,”
a 3D rendering of Le Corbusier’s iconic La Ville Savoye
in Poissy, France, wrapped in disruptive patterning culled
from textiles from former French colonies.
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“Ornament and Crime,” video stills, 22:00.’
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“Ornament and Crime,” video stills, 22:00.’
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“Ornament and Crime,” interior shot of the 3D model used for the video.
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“Ornament and Crime,” interior shot of the 3D model used for the video.
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