Greer Lankton’s Birthday Bash

This is the big moment! A free community day will mark the official launch of the Greer Lankton Collection Finding Aid. Join us in partnership with the Pittsburgh Equality Center to celebrate all things Greer and the LGBTQIA+ community on what would have been her 64th birthday.

Admission is free all day. Events and programming will take place from 3-7 PM.

Schedule:

3:00-5:00 PM
-Drop-in conversations with select objects curated by former Greer Lankton Archive Fellows from the University of Pittsburgh
-Drop-in button making with Pittsburgh Equality Center
-Drop-in photobooth activity inspired by Lankton’s self-portraiture
-Lobby screening of Lankton’s videos and images

5:00-6:00 PM
-Performance by Formosa, an eclectic DJ and artist, and 1/3 of Queer DJ collective Jellyfish
-Food and drinks available after 5 PM

6:00-6:30 PM
-Birthday cake! Champagne toast to Greer!
-Mattress Factory Senior Archivist Sarah Hallett and Digitization Archivist Sinéad Bligh present the Greer Lankton Collection Finding Aid

6:30-7:00 PM
-Performance by Pittsburgh-based designer, musician and performance artist Grant Charney

Register for a time slot that is best for you here!

The Greer Lankton Archive is an assemblage of over 15,000 materials collected from the work of artist Greer Lankton, a significant and underrecognized artist in the radical art scene of New York City’s East Village during the 1980s. Lankton’s exhibitions and performances included those at PS1, Club 57, Pyramid Club, Franklyn Furnace, Civilian Warfare Gallery, Hal Bromm and the Whitney Biennale NYC. She also exhibited across the US and Europe, including in the UK, Austria and the Venice Biennale.

Over the last two years, the Mattress Factory has worked to digitize the Lankton Archive in a project funded through the Council on Library and Information Resources and in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh. The online finding aid is the culmination of this work and will make publicly accessible Lankton’s artistic development, artwork and exhibitions, along with her relationships to her friends and contemporaries, including Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz and Peter Hujar.

A portion of the funding for this program has been provided by PA Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

PGH Equality Center serves as a bridge that promotes education, advocacy, and social justice for all LGBTQIA+ people and allies in Western Pennsylvania. Find them at pghequalitycenter.org.