Valérie Lamontagne Peau d’âne

From the Charles Perrault fairy tale Peau d’âne, Valérie Lamontagne draws on the motif of three fabulous dresses: one made out of moonbeams, one as warm and bright as the sun above and one cut out of the sky itself. Using innovative technologies and working with experienced collaborators, the artist has created three interactive dresses that react in real-time to atmospheric variations transmitted by a weather station installed on OBORO’s roof. The colours of the moon dress vary according to the moon cycles; the illumination of the sun dress corresponds to the intensity of the sun’s rays; and the sky dress swells and moves depending on the patterns of the wind. By making use of climate conditions in this manner, Peau d’âne addresses with an apparently banal subject matter, but one that hides valuable clues to our modes of cultural and social exchange. A multitude of performance possibilities emerge from these wearables, which bridge the worlds of fairy tales and technology.