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Dress Tents

Conceived by artists Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, the Dress Tents  are wearable architectures, a conflation of fashion, photography, and performance art.

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  • 13 October 2016
  • San Francisco

The Dress Tents are wearable architectures, a conflation of fashion, photography, and performance art. The dress tent installations and photographs provide a forum for connecting our bodies to the landscape. It is next to impossible to ponder that connection without taking into consideration environmental and social justice issues. Each dress tent in the series uniquely explores these relationships.

Top: Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, Salty Water: South Bay Salt Flats Dress Tent, installed in Salt Ponds transitioning to wetlands near Redwood City, CA, 2010. Above: Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, Furry Dress Tent, installed in Oakland Hills Redwoods, Oakland, CA, 2005. Photograph: 30” W x 36” H Chromogenic Print

The wearable architecture is installed and worn in the landscape in order to be photographed. Humor is paramount in these photographs, which are meant to be alluring and whimsical. In other instances, the installations are designed to be performed and displayed in a gallery, museum, public space as interactive living sculptures. These tent-like forms are worn at the opening reception and additional scheduled performance times. A dress form substitutes for the figure during the duration of the exhibition. The interior of the installations house video and sound pieces that refer to the original landscape.

Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Picnic Dress Tent</i>, installed in green tailings off of Highway 5 near Tracy, CA, 2005. Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Three Dress Tents Camping in a Faux Hawaiian Rainforest</i>, installed in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 2004. Photograph: 36” W x 30” H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Ms. Homeland Security - Illegal Entry Dress Tent</i>, installed beneath the California/Mexico border fence, 2005.Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Tanning One’s Hide Dress Tent</i>, installed in Monterey Sand Dunes, Monterey, CA, 2005. Photograph: 36” W x 30” H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Bound to Leisure Dress Tent</i>, installed at Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden, Oahu, 2005. Photograph: 36”W x 30”H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Edible Garden Dress Tent</i>, gazebo with edible garden installed in Saratoga, CA at Montalvo Arts Center), 2011. Photograph: 36”W x 30”H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Ice Queen: Glacial Retreat Dress Tent,</i> installed in Mt. Shasta. Photograph: 48”W x 40”H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Dirty Towel Dress Tent</i>, installed at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, CA, 2005. Photograph: 36” W x 30” H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, Greenhouse Dress Tent, installed at a former working greenhouse for commercial plants in Richmond, CA. Photograph: 48”W x 40”H Chromogenic Print, 2008
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, Ms.Yekaterinburg: Camera Obscura Dress Tent, installed at Church on the Blood, Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2011. Photograph: 48”W x 40”H Chromogenic Print
Robin Lasser + Adrienne Pao, <i>Lava Tube Top Dress Tent</i>, installed in Kilauea Crater, Hawaii, 2004. Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print
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