Mall Camo consists of three 2-piece garments designed, patterned, printed, and fabricated by Isla to reference specific textures found throughout the Century III Mall in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Mall Camo was worn by performers engaged in tactical "hiding," sneaking, ambushing, and guerilla-like wayfinding during architectural tours of the mall, serving to highlight repetitive patterns found throughout the mall's three-level structure.
Built in 1979, the Century III mall was at that time the third largest mall in the world. It was remodeled in 1997, and by 2015, 90% of the mall was vacant. In 2019 the mall was deemed to be unsafe and unhabitable by the local fire department, in violation of numerous codes.
The tours were part of a larger project,Sensory3 by 6-woman team Dadpranks as part of Open Engagement 2015 Pittsburgh.
Special thanks to Tucker Marder & Dan Allende, as well as the Sensory 3 Dadpranks team: Lauren Goshinski, Kate Hansen, Laura Warman, Nina Sarnelle, and Elina Malkin.
As part of Sensory 3 at Century III for Open Engagement with Dadpranks, Isla also designed and fabricated interactive electronic meditation mats, used in custom tai chi and meditation sessions in the Dadpranks mall storefront led by Dadpranks members Laura Warman, Elina Malkin, and Nina Sarnelle.
The meditation mats, when properly stimulated with the right moves, produced reverberating aural inspirations.
