Mattress Factory — Attraction in Pittsburgh

I am a Museum Nerd and have wanted to visit the Mattress Factory for years - I was NOT disappointed. I am a contemporary artist and also work in museums and will absolutely be writing a benchmarking report for my workplace. I brought my siblings and my Mom and we had a great time.

We had so much fun in the Yayoi installation. Jaelyn was the Museum Guide working the James Turrell floor - Jaelyn was excellent, friendly and informative. He was totally capable of carrying a conversation with a regular museum goer like myself and had a series of introductory facts about the artist ready for my newbie family members - Seriously, give Jaelyn a raise and if he isn’t on your full time permanent staff, make him one!

So constructive criticism - The red Turrell piece needs significant adjustments. There is too much bleed through light from the lobby that is impacting the viewers experience. I would suggest hanging a blackout curtain in the entryway of the installation to prevent this. The red cube appears to simply be a projection and the desired optical illusion doesn’t occur. The left track light in blue installation also needs to be adjusted.

I’m curious why tombstone labels are not provided? Is this part of your Content and Interpretation initiatives? There were some works I would have appreciated a list of materials. I think some interpretive labels and tombstones could help prevent some of the negative comments left here on Google. Not many folks are museum goers or understand how to view contemporary art - especially installation art. Some accessibility issues in the parking lot and throughout the building. My mother is visual impaired and the route to the bathrooms is a little difficult and has low level lighting. Admission is also a bit pricey and I was disappointed that my AMA membership that I receive as a museum progressional didn’t cover my admission.

Overall though - really amazing experience! Thanks for making our weekend. Throw me a follow on insta if anyone is interested...

WOW! Let me preface this review by saying I really had no intention of ever coming here. I had thought maybe it was going to be "swoosh, right over my head", like some of what I had seen down at the Wood Street Gallery and the other installation, "boutique", or one-room, one-piece galleries downtown. They were very nice, unique, some quite memorable, others just out of my league. I drive about two hours one-way from WV to see the Broadway National Tours at the Benedum, the shows at the Byham and the Cabaret at Theater Square, the concerts and performances at Heinz Hall, and enjoy the Cultural District's many offerings, and with upwards of six hours to kill I had already visited just about every every museum, gallery, vista, and sightseeing attraction Pittsburgh has to offer in the preceding sixteen months (25+ trips) since I had been coming to Pittsburgh. With my time winding down here in the area, and with only one last opportunity remaining to see the Mattress Factory, I finally told myself "let's get this over with". Man, what the hell was I waiting on. This place was just simply amazing. And the staff were all so very friendly and helpful. The pictures I've seen simply cannot do it justice. Installation art of this size, this scale, well, it slaps you in the face, wraps around you, surrounds you, and it absorbs you into it like no other art form can. I really believe the key to enjoying this is catching it with as FEW people in the exhibits as possible. Be the only one in the room. I was the first person in the building on a Saturday morning, and for the most part the only one in each gallery or on every floor, every time, in two out of three buildings. I can't imagine trying to appreciate this when there are a dozen or more people all talking and flocking around each other all angling to see the exhibit. Go see this. I can't believe I waited this long. Or maybe it's a good...

I had heard good things about Mattress Factory, I left this place feeling disappointed and confused. It consisted of two buildings. I have not a clue what the purpose of the first building was. There were some pictures of trains, a log hanging from a rope, some red lights, and honestly I can’t even tell you what else was thrown together in that run down building, other than way too many stairs. The main building had four floors. For what? No idea. The dot room that everyone posts is VERY small with 3 mannequins. You had to wear gross booties over your shoes to walk inside. There was a room with some sort of exhibit with computers and moving parts and a VR headset that looked like you were riding around the track between the computers. Not sure what that was about. The one floor was literally pitch black with a single square projected on the wall. A SQUARE. We were told that the other exhibit on that floor was rented out so we couldn’t see it. There was another exhibit with a wooden walkway and thousands of pieces of cardboard cut into squares on either side of it piled on the floor. Why? I don’t know. The coolest exhibit was the bizarre and creepy display of dolls and a weird mannequin with a bunch of pill bottles. The basement had 6 bust statues with water dripping on them and you walked between them. Another exhibit had glass hanging from the ceiling and we were told to put our ears up to the glass tubes, but when I touched the glass to put it on my ear, I was screamed at by the employee for touching it. Another employee carrying a ladder yelled at us to move out of his way as soon as we walked into the museum and were waiting to walk up to the ticket counter. Overall, my takeaway was that they have rude employees, there’s a lack of exhibits, and the fact that we spent $22 each to get in is ridiculous. We wouldn’t go...