Featured in The Art & Architecture of Maybe
Robin Lasser (b. 1956), Adrienne Pao (b. 1975), Sasha Vermel (b. 1980)
Wingspan: A Wearable Sanctuary, 2026
Structure: powder coated steel and fencing, aluminum cast dress form
Fabric: Sunbrella Icon Volt, Silkara nylon/ polyester, Ottertext nylon ripstop, Ottertex waterproof canvas
Sound: Arduino, amplifier, and speakers
14 ft. (height) x 12 ft (diameter); 30 ft. (wingspan)
Commissioned by Montalvo Arts Center’s Lucas Artists Program
Photo by Robin Lasser
About
Situated within a garden inhabited by native plantings, Wingspan: A Wearable Sanctuary merges body, bird, architecture, and landscape in a temporary hybrid form. Drawing from the historic arches of Villa Montalvo, the Dress Tent translates the estate’s architectural language into a winged, inhabitable structure that extends built space into living habitat–serving as a threshold between estate and ecology.
Migration and adaptation are natural conditions of survival: birds traverse territories, plants reseed and root, and architectural forms travel across time and geography. Visitors activate the work by setting a wooden bench swing in motion, triggering a layered soundscape of endangered and thriving California bird calls interwoven with an original cello composition. The surrounding native plantings echo the installation’s color and reinforce its field of resonance.
In a moment of ecological precarity, joy becomes a form of resistance. What is vanishing does not fall silent. Through embodied participation, human movement amplifies what remains. Wingspan becomes a resonant aviary, where vitality and vulnerability exist in charged balance.
Project Credits:
- Artists: Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao
- Photographers: Robin Lasser, Adrienne Pao, and Erin De Jauregui
- Dress fabrication: Sasha Vermel
- Steel fabrication and co-designer: Anthony Texiera
- Arduino fabrication and coding: Xiao Wu
- Original music compositions: Robin Lasser
- Original cello composition: Gustavo Lorenzetti
- Sound Engineering: Albert (Camacho) Cagliero
- Garden design and stewardship: Mari Jozaki
- Rigging: Christopher Horvath
- Sewing: F.R. McNeil, Lara Mattson, Nat Stockmann
- Performers: Sophie Lastra, Sasha Vermel, Maija Fletcher, and Lauren Baines
Location
This work is displayed along the walking path near Parking Lot 2.
Additional Photos
Click on the image to enlarge.
