Robin Lasser stands at the Mexico-California border fence, a watchful figure of incredible height in camouflage fatigues. She peers through binoculars and searches for illegals attempting to sneak over the line.
Photography by Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao
But Lasser, in life, is no vigilante. She’s no border agent either. She’s an assistant professor of art at San Jose State University who, with Adrienne Pao, a photographer and one of her former students, created a series of photographs and live exhibitions of wearable architecture called Dress Tents.
Ms. Homeland Security: Illegal Entry Dress Tent is one of these pieces of nomadic attire. It fits snugly into a bag and can be fully assembled and donned in a couple of hours. Picnic Dress Tent is another. It features Pao literally tethered to 50s-era female domesticity in a humongous red-and-white gingham number. “I thought it’d be amazing to deal with this idea of camping and the body and make it photographic,” Pao says.
The pair dreamt up a suite of site-specific outfits, chose fabrics that worked with the landscapes, and got help from seamstresses in the Bay Area to
construct the garments (sometimes using actual tents as scaffolding). On location, either Lasser or Pao modeled the duds while the other shot.
But a Dress Tent doesn’t stop with a still. The artists designed and built elaborate inner sanctums within the structures to be experienced in a gallery. By ducking beneath Security’s skirt, crossing a border of sorts between public and private, visitors watch video of the scene on the other end of the binoculars.
“My desire is to experience life and then communicate it,” Lasser says. “Some artists just want to speak to themselves. For me, it’s always been important to make my art for the public.”
While Dress Tents are meant to push buttons, they’re also meant to be whimsical. Future tents will incorporate smart fabrics that change color with temperature, and one may involve live bees — thus, Lasser or Pao would become queen.
—Megan Mansell Williams
>> Dress Tents: robinlasser.com, adriennepao.com
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