Hours
Currently Closed
Admission
Members
FREE
Adults
$22
Seniors
$20
Students
$17
Catalina Schliebener Muñoz
,
Deep, Deep Woods
View Exhibition
Isla Hansen
,
How to Get to Make Believe
View Exhibition
Andrea Peña
,
States of Transmutation
View Exhibition

After School

Teen Art Cooperative
Our Mission

Mattress Factory is an artist-centered museum, international residency program and renowned producer and presenter of installation art. We say “yes” to artists, offering time and space to dream and realize projects in our hometown, Pittsburgh, PA. We invite audiences from around the world and around the corner to step inside, immerse and connect with the artistic process.

Learn More About Us
Archived

Russ Orlando

Cured

This play is a reflection on the (im)possibility of accepting diversity and the other. The fragmented body of the neoplasm—the fruit of unstable conditions—overcomes barriers, loves and denies itself and others, wanders around, forgetting its profession. It frequently and with pleasure divides, goes through dangerous palpation, questions the possibility of contact with the experience of the other. Poorly brought up but very successful, it invites us to a trans-species transition.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce at elit quis felis ullamcorper vehicula non in est. Maecenas finibus pharetra justo et faucibus. Nulla eu tortor vel ex volutpat efficitur. Vivamus placerat turpis in aliquet venenatis. Quisque ac lacinia mauris. Nam quis lobortis elit. Vestibulum sagittis nisi sit amet euismod hendrerit. Mauris non sodales odio. Donec efficitur molestie quam, sed lobortis massa vestibulum ut.

Nunc at arcu sodales nisi porta euismod non vel neque. Phasellus at lobortis ante, in suscipit justo. Proin non purus vitae nisi molestie consectetur. Vestibulum volutpat lobortis interdum. Vestibulum pretium ligula lorem, egestas ultricies lectus ultricies ac. Curabitur venenatis vulputate dolor.

Russ Orlando’s installation, Cured, explores the notion of healing a city, preserving what has defined it, slowing down time, and making things last. The curing process itself is gradual and requires patience. “I’m not trying to give the answer. I’m just posing the question: can it be cured?” Yet the same element that sustains also readily destroys.

The work started as an idea three years ago. Orlando saw a photo essay in Time magazine featuring the Detroit salt mines. The mines were expansive and intriguing, and the image of the pristine, quiet place under Detroit stuck with him. Orlando did not have a trajectory for these thoughts, but the idea didn’t wane. “I take information that I don’t know what I’m going to do with yet, and if it bothers me and stays around, then I’ll work with it.”

When the residency with the Mattress Factory came about, Pittsburgh’s steel industry and Detroit’s automotive story formed a natural symbiotic link, one feeding the other. But in researching the two cities, Orlando found they also shared a connection below ground: the two are soldered together by salt deposits that lay underneath both cities, remains of a retreating sea.

When

2013

About The Artist

Born in Detroit, Russ Orlando earned his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work has been exhibited across the country, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Northern Clay Center, and MOCAD (The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit). Orlando comes from a ceramics background, a medium that forced him to slow down and take his time. The progression led him to sculpture, and then to installation. Though the installations can stand on their own, Orlando incorporates a performance element into his work. By adding himself into what he calls his “performstallations”, he can directly engage and experience the viewer’s reaction.

Russ Orlando’s installation, Cured, explores the notion of healing a city, preserving what has defined it, slowing down time, and making things last. The curing process itself is gradual and requires patience. “I’m not trying to give the answer. I’m just posing the question: can it be cured?” Yet the same element that sustains also readily destroys.

The work started as an idea three years ago. Orlando saw a photo essay in Time magazine featuring the Detroit salt mines. The mines were expansive and intriguing, and the image of the pristine, quiet place under Detroit stuck with him. Orlando did not have a trajectory for these thoughts, but the idea didn’t wane. “I take information that I don’t know what I’m going to do with yet, and if it bothers me and stays around, then I’ll work with it.”

When the residency with the Mattress Factory came about, Pittsburgh’s steel industry and Detroit’s automotive story formed a natural symbiotic link, one feeding the other. But in researching the two cities, Orlando found they also shared a connection below ground: the two are soldered together by salt deposits that lay underneath both cities, remains of a retreating sea.

SUPPORT THE MUSEUM

Give artists the time, space and resources to create remarkable works of art that help us see our world in new ways.

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram