The Occluded Front: sketches of approaches to weather modification for the purpose of crypsis. Created during the Special Works School 2011.
In a fictional scenario (but based on real world research), a community maintains its autonomy from the prevailing powers status through crypsis, slipping on a cloak of invisibility through interventions in the atmosphere...
Excerpt from The Occluded Front, pencil drawings 28 x 20 cm, in: Preliminary Report of Special Works School. Manu Luksch 2011
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The Special Works School
During the First World War, a corner of Kensington Gardens was fenced off from public access and turned into a replica of Flanders, filled with trenches, shell holes, fake trees and decoy tanks. It became the home of the Special Works School, established by the Royal Engineers as a place to teach, display and experiment with new techniques of camouflage. Following the end of the First World War, the Camouflage Park was dismantled - but did it ever really go away?
The Special Works School was refounded in 2011, as a collective of artists, writers and designers. We want to engage critically with this secret history of the park, and investigate the role of deception, dissimulation and surveillance play in public life today. This August we publish our Preliminary Report, which gathers field observations together with speculative proposals, historical images and capsule essays.
With contributions from: Tom Chivers, Simon Elvins, Synnove Fredericks, Alex Haw, The Henningham Family Press, Manu Luksch, Mike Massaro & James Trefor-Jones, Vahakn Matossian, Sophie Nield, Christian Nold, Mark Pilkington, Heather Ring, James Wilkes, Hannah Wood, Patrick Wright and Liam Young. Produced with the support of Openvizor and Maharishi.
Report Launch Event
when: 02 August · 18h30 - 20h
where: Maharishi
2-3 Great Pulteney Street, London W1
