Mattress Factory | Art You Can Get Into: EXHIBITIONS

Showing posts with label EXHIBITIONS. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2016

On View This Summer

Spend your summer at the Mattress Factory! There's plenty to see in our galleries, and we don't want you to miss out...so here's a short guide of what's currently on view here at MF.

The Mattress Factory is home to a growing permanent collection of installation art — from the ever-popular Repetitive Vision (Yayoi Kusama) to the recently unveiled Acupuncture (Hans Peter Kuhn) sitting atop our roof. But don't forget to look for the more subtle installations hidden in the museum, like William Anastasi's minimalist wall drawings and Rolf Julius' music-playing terra cotta flowerpots.

Families and children in Yayoi Kusama's Repetitive Vision

Stop by to take a last look at Factory Installed at 500 Sampsonia Way, featuring the works of Lisa Sigal, Bill Smith and Rob Voerman, before it closes in early August.

Bill Smith, spherodendron, 2015

The works of David Bowen, Kevin Clancy, Lauren Kalman and Wendy Judge are also currently on view! The artists have completely transformed the galleries at 1414 Monterey Street with their own distinctive approach to the creative process. A few highlights: sliced mountains, space debris, cats, a money machine and gold leaves.

Kevin Clancy, IRIS_SIRI, 2016

As always, feel free to take pictures as you visit our galleries — and use #MattressFactory to share your photos with us!

Why not learn about the exhibitions as you visit? Drop in the museum for an interactive tour of our current exhibitions — it's FREE with museum admission! These tours are a treat, so please do stop by when you get the chance!

We are busier than ever this summer! If you're interested in learning more about what we do here or want to help out, we encourage you to volunteer. We're always looking for a helping hand, and we would love to get to know our dedicated viewers and patrons personally. Feel free to drop come to the Volunteer Open House + Orientation for a talk + tour of MF.

Keep an eye out for more installation openings and events that may be coming soon! We want you to get the most out of your visits here. See you soon!

Thursday, August 20, 2015

RECAP // Coffee Date with Marnie Weber

This past Saturday, MF Members joined Factory Installed artist Marnie Weber for a special behind-the-scenes Coffee Date. Marnie is in the process of creating her installation "Night Train" in the Lower Level of the museum's main building at 500 Sampsonia Way. Her installation will be part of the museum's upcoming exhibition, Factory Installed, featuring four artists from around the globe. The Factory Installed Opening Reception will be held Friday, September 18 from 6-8pm.

Marnie gave a brief overview of her practice and her experience working with galleries located in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London and Athens, Greece. Marnie is building a train in the Lower Level and explained her fascination with trains began at a very early age when she lived for a year in Taiwan next to a steam engine. "Night Train" will be accompanied by many effigies or spirit totems, as Marnie likes to call them. These spirit totems are created by manipulating found objects such as masks and wigs, and sculpting them to give a monster-like appearance. "I like to work with monsters because no females tend to work with monsters. It's more of a man's thing," Marnie explained.

After the introduction, Marnie toured the group through her partially installed work, explaining that it will look completely different in a few weeks when the exhibition opens. Marnie is also a musician and is composing a soundtrack that will be played on a loop in the installation. "The lighting will also be totally different," Marnie made sure to tell everyone. "It will be more theatrical!"

Marnie Weber's "Night Train" opens as part of Factory Installed on September 18 and will be open through Spring 2016.

For more information about upcoming Coffee Dates or to become a member, visit our website at www.mattress.org.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

RECAP // "Factory Installed" Exhibition Opening Reception

Friday's opening reception of the new "Factory Installed" exhibition was nothing short of a great time. A huge thanks to everybody who came out to celebrate these great new works with us!

This exhibition at 1414 Monterey Street features new work created in-residence by artists Jacob Douenias + Ethan Frier, Julie Schenkelberg, Anne Lindberg, and John Morris, and will continue through Spring of 2016.

"Living Things" by Jacob Douenias and Ethan Frier. Photograph by Kelly Keever.

"The Color of Temperance: Embodied Energy" by Julie Schenkelberg. Photograph by Kelly Keever

"shift lens" by Anne Lindberg. Photograph by Kelly Keever.

"Life, Afterlife" by John Morris. Photograph by Kelly Keever.

For more pictures of the exhibition, make sure to visit our Flickr Page.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

PREVIEW // "Factory Installed" Exhibition

Preparations for the upcoming exhibition Factory Installed are already underway! Factory Installed is a two-part exhibition opening in May and September that will feature installations from eight artists chosen from a pool of over 500 applicants. One of these artists, Biogenous, explores the architectural use of mutually beneficial microbes to change buildings from units of consumption to units of production. Earlier this week, Jake Douenias of Biogenous explained some of his early designs to Heather McElwee and Jason Forck of the Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC).

During day one of working in the PGC hot shop, Jake continues to tweak his CAD designs while Jason begins work at the glassblower’s bench. New school and old school unite in a beautiful way.

The final shapes will be filled with several gallons of water and suspended from the ceiling, so Jake must test the design of his hanging system using an unfinished early prototype. The results are great!

We would like to give a huge thank you to the PGC for their support in the design and fabrication of the glass structures that will be used in this installation at the Mattress Factory running from May 15, 2015 through Winter 2016.

Friday, March 13, 2015

ALL-NEW // "Screenings 2015"

This is the third installment of Screenings, an installation of spontaneous film sketches inspired by the Mattress Factory's Gestures series. In this ongoing exhibition series, artists have been invited to create a new work specifically for the Mattress Factory's lobby projection screen. Each artist was asked to provide a quick and gestural "sketch" and encouraged to experiment outside their normal way of working. The second screening of 2015 will be Alexi Morrissey's Pirate Copy, which will run from March 13 - April 2 in the Mattress Factory Lobby.

ALEXI MORRISSEY
Pirate Copy
2015
Running Time: 38 minutes

Alexi Morrissey (b. 1971) is an American artist working in sculpture, performance and installation art. He has exhibited nationally and internationally working both as an auteur and a collaborator executing projects with individuals, collectives, institutions and governments. These concerns have led him to interrogate the commonplace notions of function, public space, history, language and the pervasive construct of narrative. He has done tele-present performance art with young prisoners, lectured on the history of planetary robotics and made sculptures that talk to the dead. He lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA.

Friday, February 20, 2015

ALL-NEW // "Screenings 2015"

This is the third installment of Screenings, an installation of spontaneous film sketches inspired by the Mattress Factory's Gestures series. In this ongoing exhibition series, artists have been invited to create a new work specifically for the Mattress Factory's lobby projection screen. Each artist was asked to provide a quick and gestural "sketch" and encouraged to experiment outside their normal way of working. The first screening of 2015 will be Jen Gooch's Conviction, which will run from February 20 - March 12 in the Mattress Factory Lobby.

JENN GOOCH
Conviction
2015
Running Time: 35 minutes

FROM THE ARTIST // The last few years my art and music practice has come to incorporate dance. Recently I began studying early American rhythmic dance styles, precursors to tap dance and clogging, like buck and flatfoot. These late 19th-early 20th century Southern and Mountain styles immediately reminded me of the way churchgoers would "dance in the spirit" throughout my upbringing in a Pentecostal church in Texas. The cheerful, driving rhythm of these early folk styles are not unlike the clap-on-the-upbeat, tambourine-fueled gospel of my childhood. While secular dance and "worldly" music were prohibited, church members were still encouraged to explore dance's cathartic qualities, though warned to avoid sexualized movements – "dancing in the flesh." This line between the spirit and the flesh, sacred versus secular, is a common struggle in the history of gospel as it grapples to deny and contend with its inseparable evil twin, the blues (and its offspring, rock and roll, soul, etc.).

Jenn Gooch is a multi-media artist and musician from Texas, living and working in Pittsburgh, PA. Her web-based community project One Cold Hand received international press, including USA Today and NPR. She recently ran a tailoring and textile studio, WERK, where she began Gender-Neutral Learn-to-Sew, a free workshop made possible in part part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund. Jenn is a multi-instrumental musician and singer/songwriter who dances flatfoot and fiddles with her band, Gift Horse. She received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Screenings: An Installation of Spontaneous Film Sketches

Today (Friday, February 28, 2014) is the opening of the Mattress Factory's second edition of Screenings, an installation of spontaneous film sketches inspired by the Mattress Factory's Gestures series. This exhibition will run for 12 weeks, allotting three weeks per artist. Each artist is presented with the opportunity to create a new video work specifically for exhibition on the Mattress Factory's large projector screen in the first floor lobby of the museum. I had the chance to speak with Owen Smith, the Exhibitions Manager and organizer behind the Screenings series, to get some insight into the makings of the series.

Caitlin Harpster: What is the Screenings Series exactly? Could you provide some background information for how the series first came to be?

Owen Smith: Our first go at this series was last year around this same time (March 1 - May 23, 2013). It began as this idea to be able to better utilize the large projector screen we have in the lobby of the museum. I took inspiration from our Gestures series (which dates back to 2001) and thought it would be interesting to ask artists who may not typically work in this type of medium, to experiment and create a "film sketch" to screen in our lobby.

CH: This is your second Screenings Series. What made you want to do this again?

OS: We received very good feedback from the first series and I started thinking about the next. We have this great big projector screen and it's a great platform for artists to be able to experiment and take risks and create something that they normally would not create. It is also a fairly quick exhibition. It is only 12 weeks long, so it's sort of nice to have programming that rotates more quickly. The viewer can come back the very next week and be surprised to see something completely different than the week before.

CH: There were more artists in the last series. Was there a reason why you limited the number of artists from six to four?

OS: Last time there were six artists and the screenings ran for 12 weeks. That left only two weeks for each artist's work to be on view. Two weeks seemed too short. I wanted to expand the screening time of each film without expanding the exhibition time. Three weeks seems like a better balance.

CH: What about the artists?

OS: The artists I choose last year were from all different backgrounds in the arts such as documentary film, live interactive media, photography, etc. Three out of the four artists I choose this year specialize in some sort of film, whether it be experimental documentary like George Cessna, performative video like Di-ay Battad, or computer animation like Nate Lorenzo. I choose Delanie Jenkins specifically because her practice does not involve film or video. She is a sculptor. I am very interested to see what a physical sculptor will do in this situation.

CH: George Cessna is opening the series tomorrow. Can you tell us anything about what to expect?

OS: George's video is called I'm Not A Very Good Cowboy. It is a short quasi-documentary in the sense that it is about himself as a real subject, but it is also a performance by him. It is a silent video with subtitles, about four minutes long. He is struggling with this country-western persona that he has created for himself. I think a lot of people will relate to his search for a genuine connection to a thing he loves.

George Cessna, I'm Not A Very Good Cowboy, 2014, 4 minutes, silent video with subtitles

For more information on last year's Screenings, you can check out our posts HERE.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

From the Archives: John Cage, "changing installation," 1991

As an MLIS (Master of Library & Information Science) graduate student interning in the Mattress Factory Archives, I have a unique opportunity to work with records, documents, and photographs, which tell the story of the museum and the artworks created over the museum’s 35-year history. There are many amazing relics in the MF archives and I help preserve and provide access to this material for students, researchers, and artists. One of my favorite collections is a group of images of John Cage’s 1991 changing installation, an artwork exhibited as part of the 1991 Carnegie International. While cataloging, digitizing, and organizing these photos, I noticed an unexpected surprise that exemplifies the serendipitous magic that so often happens with artists working at the Mattress Factory.

Day 73 of changing installation

One of the poems included within the installation
instructions for changing installation

Most well known for his musical compositions, John Cage (1912-1992) also expressed himself as a poet, artist, and writer. In changing installation, 1991, Cage combines the use of two-dimensional works with poetry, all while maintaining an exploration of concepts surrounding randomness. The concepts of randomness and chance are frequently woven into Cage’s musical compositions, such as Music of Changes (1951) and the 85-part series, Music for Piano (1952-1962). For more about John Cage’s work, check out the John Cage Trust.

Based on the concept of “controlled randomness,” changing installation consists of two-dimensional works by artists Dove Bradshaw, Mary Jean Kenton, John Cage and Marsha Skinner, along with six chairs that rotate around the exhibition space in an order determined by a computer algorithm.[1] The six chairs are: one Bertoia Side Chair, one 1940s aluminum lawn chair, one Arne Jacobson Egg Chair, one chair made from sticks, one Empire chair, and one steel chair made by a steelworker. John Cage hoped to present randomness (in this case, the computer generated numbers), in a controlled and orderly way (through the use of clear and precise installation instructions). The installation was on view for 102 days and each day the chairs and artworks were rearranged based on placements outlined by the computer algorithm. Museum Co-Director Michael Olijnyk photographed the installation each day from a vantage point identified by the computer algorithm.

Wall Label for changing installation, 1991. Each artist provided 12 works to be used within the installation. The works each have an assigned number and a combination of 15 works was shown every day.

The entire fourth floor of 500 Sampsonia Way was divided into distinct locations for changing installation. Cage gave each corner of the gallery a unique number ranging from 1-64.

Based on the computer algorithm, John Cage’s script lists the works to be displayed each day, their location, their display angle, and the placement of the camera. Here, this script page indicates the works to be shown and their location within the gallery for the first twenty days. For example, on day 1, work 5 is shown in position 30.

Each morning Museum Co-Director Michael Olijinyk took “down the works from the previous day, put in place the new arrangement of chairs and artwork” and “photograph[ed] the space.” During this process, his pet cat, Godzik, would follow him around the gallery. In some photographs, Godzik placed himself directly in the center of the installation (and image), and in others, he appears as a blur or a reflection. Rather than retaking the day’s image, Michael Olijinyk noted that the cat’s appearance was “in complete accord with Cage’s concept of incorporating random sounds and occurrences into his work.”[2] All in all, Godzik can be seen in 17 photographs and is a surprising addition to an exhibition already based heavily on randomness.

Check out the images below—can you find Godzik in each one? (Click the image to enlarge)

Day 14 of changing installation

Day 25 of changing installation

Day 26 of changing installation

Day 30 of changing installation

Day 31 of changing installation

Day 58 of changing installation

Day 95 of changing installation

As you can see, through my internship at the Mattress Factory Archives, I have the chance to work with some fantastic collections and amazing artwork. The museum is made up of a multitude of moving parts, and as I continue to explore its history, I’ll gather more interesting stories to share!

Bibliography:

Bernstein, David W., and Christopher Hatch (eds.). Writings Though John

Cage’s Music, Poetry, & Art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Mattress Factory. “John Cage.”

http://mattressfactory.org/index.cfm?event=ShowArtist&eid=21&id=248&c=

Mattress Factory Education Department. “Mattress Factory’s Permanent

Collection Curriculum Guide.” Last Modified 2009.

http://www.mattress.org/documents/2009_CurriculumGuide_Web.pdf

Olijnyk, Michael, Barbara Luderowski, and Claudia Giannini. Installations:

Mattress Factory, 1990-1999. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.

[1] David W. Bernstein and Christopher Hatch (eds.), Writings Though John Cage’s Music, Poetry, & Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000): 5.

[2] Mattress Factory Education Department, “Mattress Factory’s Permanent Collection Curriculum Guide,” last modified 2009, http://www.mattress.org/documents/2009_curriculumguide_web.pdf.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Best of 2013 Mattress Factory Instagrams!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE MATTRESS FACTORY!

In honor of the new year, the Mattress Factory has been perusing its Instagram tags (to bolster our ego, of course) and decided to showcase the best #mattressfactory Instagrams from 2013. So from the MF to you, avid Instagrammers, THANK YOU for posting such beautiful pictures of our museum and the amazing installations we have the privilege of exhibiting. Enjoy!

THE MUSEUM: