Hours
Open Today until 6pm
Admission
Members
FREE
Adults
$22
Seniors
$20
Students
$17
Marvin Touré
,
the blood is the water.
View Exhibition
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
Asim Waqif
,
Assume the Risk
View Exhibition
Shohei Katayama
,
As Below, So Above
View Exhibition

After School

Teen Summer Workshop Series
Our Mission

The 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

Robert Villamagna

Talk to Me: Real Words from Real People

2010

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.

Curated by Katherine Talcott

Artist Statement

As a kid, I looked forward to the carnivals that would arrive in the Ohio River valley every spring. While I loved the rides and games of chance, it was the sideshow that I found most intriguing. As he stood against a wall of freaks illustrated on huge stretches of canvas, the barker would yell out, “They’re alive.... on the inside!” This combination of the visual and the oral, and its impact on my childhood, is the seed of my Gestures piece. Every day of my life I am hearing tens of thousands of words spoken to me, or I am overhearing words directed towards others. Throughout my life, many of these statements have found a place in my memory banks. Talk to Me: Real Words from Real People is about those word groups that I remember. Why is it that out of this endless bombardment of words, I remember these words? Why have these particular statements stuck with me? At a given time, these quotes may have struck me as profound, painful, funny, or just plain weird. These words have come out of the mouths of my family, friends, students, acquaintances, and complete strangers. As for the figures you see in front of you making the statements, I like to think that they might be connected to those people painted on the sideshow banners from my youth. Freaks, perhaps, but their words are all real.

Exhibition

Gestures 14: May 8 – June 20, 2010
About The Artist

Robert Villamagna is a mixed-media artist. He received a BS from Franciscan University and later attended Wright State University for a MAT. Robert teaches at West Liberty University in West Virginia, and the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh's Strip District.

More from this Artist

More from this Exhibition

The Residents of Chelm Visit the Mexican War Streets

TW1L1GHT T1ME

The Deep Blue Sea

Untitled

Parasitic Reflectivity in a 90° Two-Step

Periphery

Memento Mori, Baby!

Tree House

Every Person a Pollock!

What You Can See From the Light

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