The Mattress Factory is a

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

museum located in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was a pioneer of site-specific

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

and features permanent installations by artists

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, and is also active in painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attribute ...

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outsid ...

, and

Greer Lankton Greer Lankton (April 21, 1958 – November 18, 1996), was an American artist known for creating lifelike sewn dolls that were often modeled on friends or celebrities and posed in elaborate theatrical settings. She was a key figure in the East ...

. The museum's roof itself is a

light art Light art or The Art of Light is generally referring to a visual art form in which (physical) light is the main, if not sole medium of creation. Uses of the term differ drastically in incongruence; definitions, if existing, vary in several asp ...

installation and part of Pittsburgh's Northside evening skyline.

Barbara Luderowski Barbara Luderowski (January 26, 1930 — May 30, 2018) was an American artist and museum administrator, who founded the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served as the museum's president and co-director. With her ten-year-old daught ...

purchased a derelict Stearns & Foster mattress warehouse in 1975. The museum achieved non-profit status in 1977. Over the next forty years, Luderowski would attract upcoming installation artists to fill its walls. The Mattress Factory along with its neighbors

City of Asylum City of Asylum (more formally City of Asylum/Pittsburgh) is a nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that houses writers exiled from their countries for their controversial writing. It provides them with free housing, health ...

and Randyland are credited with playing a role in Pittsburgh's revitalization.

History

In 1975, artist and Mattress Factory founder

purchased a former Stearns & Foster mattress warehouse at 500 Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh's Central Northside. Originally, she used the warehouse as a space to live, work and build a community of artists and intellectuals. The community grew and in 1977—after two years of hosting art exhibits and a small food co-op—the Mattress Factory was established as a legal non-profit educational and cultural corporation. Its first exhibition of installation art opened five years later on May 8, 1982, and the museum has since grown to be an integral part of the Pittsburgh arts community, known for its artist residency program, educational programming, and unique exhibitions. In 2008 then-Curator of Exhibitions Michael Olijnyk joined Luderowski in leading the museum as co-director. Over the years the Mattress Factory has acquired more properties for various purposes, including: *1414 Monterey Street, which became a new gallery space *Two buildings on North Taylor Street that became artist residences *505 Jacksonia Street, which is now used as a parking lot for museum visitors, and the adjacent lot, which now houses Winifred Lutz's ''Garden Installation'', 1993 *516 Sampsonia Way, which opened as gallery space in Fall 2013

Sexual Misconduct Allegations

In September 2018, a report published in Pittsburgh's

WESA WESA may refer to: * WESA (FM), public radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * WFGI (AM), The radio station that was previously known as WESA in Charleroi, Pennsylvania Charleroi ( ) is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, alon ...

detailed five employees' allegations of sexual misconduct and the mishandling of the situation by the Mattress Factory and its director, Michael Olijnyk. The complaint was filed with the National Labor Relations Board, and in early January 2019, a settlement was reached and the investigation was closed.

Permanent exhibitions

, the Mattress Factory hosts 17 continuous, permanent installations. The following is a short list of artists who have permanent displays at the Mattress Factory:

Gallery

File:MattressFactoryJune2.2007.jpg, ''Repetitive Vision'' installation by

File:MattressFactoryBuilding.jpg, Mattress Factory building File:Mattress Factory Annex Gallery.jpg, The Mattress Factory Annex Gallery File:MattressFactoryGardenInstallation.jpg, ''Garden Installation'' by Winifred Lutz

References

External links

* {{authority control 1977 establishments in Pennsylvania Art museums and galleries in Pennsylvania Art museums established in 1977 Contemporary art galleries in the United States Modern art museums in the United States Museums in Pittsburgh Tourist attractions in Pittsburgh