Announcing Summer School: State of the Sky
Mattress Factory welcomes applications for Summer School: State of the Sky, an interdisciplinary arts-centered educational program to be held within the State of the Sky exhibition at Mattress Factory’s, 516 Sampsonia Way building. The program will encompass six bi-weekly seminars, twice weekly access to the exhibition’s solar darkroom, and a series of public events.
Summer School: State of the Sky will explore how documents housed within archives, libraries, and museums—repositories of knowledge and power—can be used to reimagine dominant narratives. Through the creative translation of documents–newspapers, photographs, data, and other archival materials, participants will explore ways to un-archive and recirculate marginalized, contested and unknown histories. The seminars will be guided by visual artists, poets, filmmakers, and anthropologists, providing a space to connect with diverse research methodologies, engage in creative experimentation, and foster critical discussions about cultural knowledge and memory. Participants will contribute to a collaborative ethos that values deskilling and reskilling—embracing unconventional methods and perspectives across disciplines. A different practitioner will lead each seminar, including, Michael Leong, Noah Theriault, Sobia Ahmad, and Nida Rehman, with the first and final meetings facilitated by the program organizers, Luke Stettner and Calista Lyon.
Alongside the seminars, participants will have twice weekly access to the exhibition’s unique solar darkroom, where participants can use documents to experiment with photograms—exposures made using the sun as a light source. The darkroom will encourage hands-on creative inquiry and will support participants’ personal research.
Two public film screenings, curated by Benny Shaffer and co-hosted by Pittsburgh Sound + Image will bookend the seminar, framing its duration with cinematic works that resonate with the State of the Sky exhibition and the Summer School’s themes.
Who is Summer School: State of the Sky for?
We aim to support an enriching space for collaboration, creative growth, and critical exploration of documents as both information and working material. We welcome regional artists and non-artists alike, aiming to build a diverse cohort of practitioners from any background–humanities, activism and community work or the science and technology fields. Maybe you are a mid-career artist, a retired scientist, an early-career ethnographer or a current undergraduate student, all are welcome. Participants must be twenty-one years of age.
Cost
If you are accepted into the course, the seminar has a fee of $100.00. The fee will be used to supply photographic materials for the solar darkroom. The $100.00 payment is due two weeks prior to the first seminar session. Cancellations made up to one week before the first seminar session will result in a full refund. After that, refunds will not be available unless under special circumstances.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
-The application deadline is Sunday, April 13, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST
-Applicants will be notified of acceptance by Friday, April 18, 2025
-Organizers, Luke Stettner and Calista Lyon, along with Mattress Factory staff will select twelve participants for Summer School: State of the Sky
HOW TO APPLY
Please contact Laurie Barnes, Mattress Factory Education Director, with questions at lbarnes@mattress.org.
PLEASE NOTE
- Summer School: State of the Sky is an in-person program at Mattress Factory with no virtual options
- Organizers, Luke Stettner and Calista Lyon, along with Mattress Factory staff will select twelve participants for Summer School: State of the Sky
- Participants will be expected to join all seminar sessions, engage deeply with readings and seminar materials, participate in discussion, and will be encouraged to attend the public events
- The seminar sessions and darkroom are not accessible by wheelchair
- Participants must be able to climb two flights of narrow stairs
- The solar darkroom is a dark, light-tight space and has a minimal chemical smell–protective, glasses and gloves are available
SEMINAR SCHEDULE
- Week 1__6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 17, 2025
- Week 2__6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 1, 2025
- Week 3__6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 15, 2025
- Week 4__6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 29, 2025
- Week 5__6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 12, 2025
- Week 6__6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 26, 2025
DARKROOM SCHEDULE
- 9:00 - 11:30 a.m., Saturday, June 21 – August 23, 2025
- 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 17 – August 26, 2025
FILM SCREENINGS
- 8:00 - 10:00 p.m., Saturday, July 12, 2025
- 8:00 - 10:00 p.m., Saturday, August 23, 2025
Summer School: State of the Sky Program Organizers:
Luke Stettner has held over a dozen solo exhibitions, including at Storm King (NY), The Kitchen (NYC), Stene Projects (Stockholm), and Kate Werble Gallery (NYC). His most ambitious exhibition to date, State of the Sky, is currently on view at the Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh) through January 2026. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, Aperture, The Boston Globe, and The Columbus Dispatch. Stettner is a recent recipient of the Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Excellence Award in Poetry and recently participated in the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Artist Exchange in Dresden, Germany, where he researched his German Jewish roots and histories of upheaval.
Calista Lyon is an Australian photographer, artist and teacher. She is currently the Assistant Professor of Photography & Expanded Media at the University of Arkansas.
Benny Shaffer is an anthropologist, curator, and filmmaker who works at the intersection of socially engaged art and experimental cinema. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology and Critical Media Practice from Harvard University, where he was a Film Study Center fellow, a member of the Sensory Ethnography Lab, and a curator of the Emergent Visions film series. He served as the co-director of Revolutions Per Minute Festival in Boston and is currently a board member of Pittsburgh Sound + Image.
