DRESS TENTS ROBIN LASSER + ADRIENNE PAO DRESS TENTS ROBIN LASSER + ADRIENNE PAO Meaning made visible CURATOR’S STATEMENT “In every single element that’s being thought of in design, nothing buttons whimsically grow larger as the dress expands into a tent. The is arbitrary, absolutely nothing.” element of sound has also been incorporated into this installation. —Alfredo Jaar, Documentary photographer and architect It comes from the amplification of the energy waves of uranium, Art in the Twenty-First Century a substance of great importance to the city of Yekaterinburg. The tone emitted is like the sound of church bells ringing. Another layer Seduced by the magical wonder of their sheer scale and beauty, of meaning is thereby revealed, as the bells are a reminder of the these spectacular Dress Tents draw us in. Once engaged, we come Church On The Blood and the bell-shape of the Dress Tent. face to face with identity issues, concerns over climate change, and Hidden beneath Ms. Yekaterinburg’s dress, lies a secret camera homeland security. These nomadic Dress Tents provide a catalyst for obscura, a darkened room that functions like a camera by allowing political and cultural dialogue. light to enter through a very small opening. In this case, the opening • These mobile Dress Tents are hybrids of fashion, sculpture, is in her front pocket. An image of the scene outside is cast onto a architecture, performance art and photography. floating white background suspended in the darkness inside her • The space in which they sit is never arbitrary. skirt. In a phenomenon of optics, the image is flipped upside down • In-situ, the landscape both frames and contextualizes, bonding and backwards. Viewers may lift the flap of her back pocket and an alliance between the architectural Dress Tent and its environment. sneak a peek at the diaphanous image that floats beneath her skirt. Collaborative artists, Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao, began their Those fortunate voyeurs will discover the surreptitious scene that Dress Tents series in 2004, bringing issues of the female body and interests Ms. Yekaterinburg in her outside world. its relationship to the landscape to the forefront. The Dress Tents As we study the photograph of Ms. Yekaterinburg and learn her were made for the purpose of being photographed and the resulting story, it’s like peeling back the skins of an onion, revealing layer upon documentary images continue to be of primary importance. At layer of what lies beneath the surface. This idea of public/private is times, the site of the Dress Tent is also a place of performance, a multi- yet another layer and is a common theme in the fabric of the two media installation that invites the public to participate through sound artists’ work. Found within this Dress Tents series is a wonderful and video beneath the dress. dichotomy of truth and fiction with humor at its core. As part of an exchange with Russian artists, Lasser and Pao Lasser and Pao are not only playing with our vision but also designed Ms. Yekaterinburg: Camera Obscura Dress Tent. It was with our psyches. As we come to know ourselves internally, we commissioned by the US State Department’s General Consulate office understand others more deeply. This transformative moment, this in Yekaterinburg, Russia. This Dress Tent would be photographed in moment of moving from public to private, from external to internal, front of City Hall in San Jose, California and then again in front of the allows one to see the world from a new and unexpected perspective. Church On Blood in Honor of All Saints Resplendent (aka Church On Lured into the magical space of Ms. Yekaterinburg, and the many The Blood) in Yekaterinburg, Russia. other Dress Tent photographs, we find ourselves face to face with Ms. Yekaterinburg: Camera Obscura Dress Tent is a multimedia compassion for others and compassion for this earth we tread upon, installation. She stands in-situ in the town of Yekaterinburg. Her as shared in the thoughtfulness and humor of these two artists. Dress Tents. Copyright © 2016. Center for Photographic Art. domed form is mimetic of the Russian onion domes atop the Church All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this catalog may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever On The Blood as seen in the background of the photograph. Nancy Sevier without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in She is the embodiment of an undercover agent who observes Curator critical articles and reviews. For information: photography.org and gathers information about the immediate world that surrounds 2016 This catalog may be purchased at MagCloud.com her. Made of military fabric, her dress is fashioned after a historic Design: Takigawa Design uniform, right down to the buttons. Except, Ms. Yekaterinburg’s ROBIN LASSER ADRIENNE PAO Lasser is a Professor of Art at San José State University living in San Francisco Bay area based photographer, Adrienne Pao, is Oakland, California. She produces photographs, video, site-specific currently engaged in two culturally and photographically based installations and public art dealing with environmental issues and projects. Hawaiian Family Portraits examines the influences of social justice. Lasser often works in a collaborative mode with other Hawaiian fantasy on individual identity in the present day. Her artists, writers, students, public agencies, community organizations, provocative collection of Dress Tents, developed in collaboration and international coalitions to produce public art and promote with artist Robin Lasser, brings images of 21st century females into public dialogue. sharp focus. Both projects investigate notions of tourism in real and Lasser exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Recent imaginative landscapes, and involve a combination of performative international exhibitions include installations at museums such as: and staged scenarios. the Metenkov House Museum of Photography, Yekaterinburg, Rus- Pao’s work has appeared in fashion and pop culture magazines, sia; Recoleta Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Caixa as well as art journals around the world including Modern Luxury Cultural Center in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. (Honolulu ’14); Happy (Russia ’11); COLOR (International ’11); Top Lasser also participates in international biennials such as ZERO1: (Brazil ’09); Dazed and Confused (London ’08); Space (China ’08); Global Art on the Edge, San Jose, California; Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Craft Magazine (US ’08); Amica (Bulgaria ’07); Metro News (London Canada; and the Pingyao International Photography Festival in ’07); Playboy (South America ’06); and many others. Her work has Pingyao, China. Earlier national and international exhibitions include: been shown nationally and internationally in the Museum of African Aronson Galleries - Parsons School of Design in New York City; Diaspora in San Francisco, California; Recoleta Cultural Center in Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery in the Bronx, New York City; L.A. County Buenos Aires, Argentina; Caixa Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro, Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California; the De Young Museum Brazil; Metenkhov House Museum of Photography in Yekaterinburg, and the Exploratorium Observation Gallery in San Francisco, the Russia; and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific Experience Osaka World Trade Center Museum in Japan; and the Academy of in Seattle, Washington. Film in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2013, Pao’s Hawaiian Cover-ups photographs were featured Lasser is currently the U.S. project lead in cross-cultural art in the book and traveling exhibition titled War Baby/Love Child. exchanges and public art festivals with Russia, Iran, and India. In 2014, her work was featured in the Prologue Exhibition titled Chain of Fire for the Honolulu Biennial. Pao received her MFA in Photography from San Jose State University in 2005 and has been a photographic educator in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2004. She is currently Associate Director of the Graduate School of Photography at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. Missionary Muumuu Dress Tent (Installed at Kailua Beach, Oahu), 2004 Photograph: 40” W x 48” H Chromogenic Print Missionary Muumuu Motion Study, 2004 Photograph: 55”W x 8”H Archival Dye Infused Metal Print Lava Tube Top Dress Tent (Installed in Kilauea Crater, Hawai’i), 2004 Three Dress Tents Camping in a Faux Hawaiian Rainforest (installed in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA), 2004 Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print Photograph: 36” W x 30” H Chromogenic Print Cross Dress Tents (Installed at Fort Point, San Francisco, CA), 2005 Picnic Dress Tent (Installed in green tailings off of Highway 5 near Tracy, CA), 2005 Photograph: 36” W x 30” H Chromogenic Print Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print Ms. Homeland Security - Illegal Entry Dress Tent (Installed beneath the California/Mexico border fence), 2005 California/Mexico Border Fence, 2005 Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print Photograph: 48” W x 40” H Chromogenic Print Ms. Homeland Security Motion Study Photograph: 55”W x 8”H Archival Dye Infused Metal Print Tanning One’s Hide Dress Tent (Installed in Monterey Sand Dunes, Monterey, CA), 2005 Photograph: 36” W x 30” H Chromogenic Print THE DRESS TENTS OF ROBIN LASSER AND ADRIENNE PAO THE SPECTACLED BODY, PRIVATE DESIRES AND SPACES OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT BY TRENA NOVAL Imagine walking the landscape of Southern California—this land of be derailed from these paths, to remember our responsibility to the take on this strategy is not so much about the specific character ture” is always present watching our every move. When placed as an sand dunes and ocean washed beaches, rolling brown hills, desert and places we live, so that we can become reflective about our engagement that they portray, but how they echo the landscape where they are installation outside of its original landscape, the Dress Tent interior is barbed wire fences, your feet moving one step at a time alongside in the world.