Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory

I was in Pittsburgh last week and had a wonderful dinner with Adam and Liesel.  While at dinner, I was trying to figure out what to do the next day with the three hours in between my meeting and catching my flight.  Adam insisted I go to The Mattress Factory Art Museum.  I had never heard of it before but now I'm a fan.  It's like a museum that's as close to a cool toy store for adults as possible.  I had no idea what to expect which was another nice part of it.  No expectations are sometimes a relief.  I traveled from floor to floor to look at room-sized exhibits.  Some of them can be photographed and some just have to be experienced.  I also walked through the museum completely alone.  Some of the exhibits are in very dark rooms and I was on the edge of freaking myself out multiple times.  It's a nice change from being in overly crowded exhibits in NYC.

I exited the elevator on the 5th Floor and saw lots of hands with real bread placed on them.  It's My Offering by Than Htay Maung.  You can buy a hand for $100 and 100% of the money is donated to a food pantry.  It's a really good first exhibit to see.

This was one of those very dark rooms that I walked into and it took a long time to figure out what was going on.  It was like Tron watching the lights move and then later light up the wall.  It's Para-Site by Pablo Valbuena.

Probably my favorite room.  I was asked to put on booties over my shoes before entering the room.  Infinity Dots Mirrored Room and Repetitive Vision by Yayoi Kusama.

A crazy room that could take hours to look at all of the details - It's all about ME, Not You by Greer Lankton.

I loved this glowing red square.  An entire floor was dark and you just had to feel your way through the rooms to find the art. 

Now I know why Adam was so excited for this museum.  But I have to go to Andy Warhol's Museum next.  I can't believe that I've been to Pittsburgh 5 times already and have yet to see it.