Mattress Factory
Encyclopedia
The Mattress Factory is a museum
of contemporary art
located in Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
, USA
. It exhibits room-sized installation art
by regional, national and international artists.
The Mattress Factory is named for its gallery buildings, housed since 1977 in the former Stearns & Foster mattress factory and warehouse buildings at 500 Sampsonia Way in the Mexican War Streets
area of Pittsburgh
's Central Northside.
Currently, the Mattress Factory receives about 38,000 visitors per year.
From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the Mattress Factory acquired more properties for various purposes, including:
lab for artists. As a museum of contemporary art, it commissions new site-specific
works, presents them to the widest possible audience and maintains selected individual installations in a growing - and distinctive - permanent collection
. The Mattress Factory's physical and organizational environments have developed out of and responded to a central focus in the creative process.
William Anastasi
In April 2009, the Mattress Factory became the first museum in the United States to use QR codes as a visitor engagement tool. In an attempt to reduce the quantity of printed gallery guides the Mattress Factory produces, they have placed several of these codes throughout the museum. Each code links to different information; some access video of artists talking about the piece the visitor is viewing or video of the artist installing the work, some display still images and background information, while others contain short anecdotal text messages about the pieces they are near. All content is viewed on visitors' 3G mobile phones with a camera and bar code-reading application. In September 2009, the Mattress Factory shared their experimental process with other arts organizations by publishing a 4-step guide to creating "Do It Yourself" QR codes on the museum's blog.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
of contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
located in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It exhibits room-sized installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes 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 Land art; however, the boundaries between...
by regional, national and international artists.
The Mattress Factory is named for its gallery buildings, housed since 1977 in the former Stearns & Foster mattress factory and warehouse buildings at 500 Sampsonia Way in the Mexican War Streets
Mexican War Streets
The Mexican War Streets, originally known as "The Buena Vista Tract", is a historic district in the Central Northside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The district is densely filled with beautifully restored row houses, community gardens and tree lined streets and alleyways...
area of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
's Central Northside.
Currently, the Mattress Factory receives about 38,000 visitors per year.
History
In 1975, the Mattress Factory acquired 500 Sampsonia Way, formerly a mattress warehouse built at the turn of the century. The Mattress Factory became a legal non-profit educational and cultural corporation in 1977, and the museum's first exhibition of installation art opened five years later on May 8, 1982.From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the Mattress Factory 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
Mission statement
The Mattress Factory is a research and developmentResearch and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
lab for artists. As a museum of contemporary art, it commissions new site-specific
Site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...
works, presents them to the widest possible audience and maintains selected individual installations in a growing - and distinctive - permanent collection
Collection (museum)
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
. The Mattress Factory's physical and organizational environments have developed out of and responded to a central focus in the creative process.
Permanent exhibitions
The Mattress Factory hosts 16 continuous, permanent installations. The following is a short list of artists who have permanent displays at the Mattress Factory:William AnastasiWilliam AnastasiWilliam Anastasi is an American painter and visual artist. He has lived and worked in New York City since the early 1960s...
- Trespass, 1991
- January 13, 1989, 10 minutes, 6B, 1989
- April 15, 1989, 32 minutes, 4B, 1989
Rolf Julius
- Ash, 1991
- Red, 1996
- Music for a Garden, 1996
Technology
The Mattress Factory is known for its groundbreaking forays into the world of social media. The museum's new media initiative, Friendship v2.0, "encourages [visitors] to continue the discussion about art within [their] own social networks and Internet communities". Platforms include a blog, MF iConfess, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Last.FM, and the Mattress Factory Channel on YouTube.In April 2009, the Mattress Factory became the first museum in the United States to use QR codes as a visitor engagement tool. In an attempt to reduce the quantity of printed gallery guides the Mattress Factory produces, they have placed several of these codes throughout the museum. Each code links to different information; some access video of artists talking about the piece the visitor is viewing or video of the artist installing the work, some display still images and background information, while others contain short anecdotal text messages about the pieces they are near. All content is viewed on visitors' 3G mobile phones with a camera and bar code-reading application. In September 2009, the Mattress Factory shared their experimental process with other arts organizations by publishing a 4-step guide to creating "Do It Yourself" QR codes on the museum's blog.