The Mattress Museum of Contemporary art was started in Pittsburgh in 1977, when an old mattress factory was turned into an unusually immersive art experience. The rooms have installations that are intended to be viewed in their particular locations, and the various tableaus and rooms are a mixture of permanent and artist-in-residence exhibits.
The installations demand the viewers’ emotional response as well as their intellectual participation: pieces have meanings that are described, but the works break rationality.
For instance, Greer Lankton’s _It’s All about ME, Not You _ (1996) showcases a room by the artist that imagines one of her apartments — the engrossing images of femininity and the figure lying on the bed with pill bottles represent issues that Lankton dealt with throughout her life.
Artist Andréa Stanislar’s 2021 exhibit _Surmatants — Mars Rising_, is a harrowing reflection on COVID-19. It took up three rooms, and my daughter and I both counted it among our favorites at the museum.
Finally, _Infinity Dots_, by artist Yayoi Kusama (1996) mesmerizes the viewer — Kusama’s preoccupation with mirrors and dots has made her reputation.
