Woman Behind Columbia ‘Mattress Performance’ Debuts New Exhibition
Columbia University graduate Emma Sulkowicz has a new art show, according to The Cut.
Sulkowicz made national headlines in 2014 when they decided to carry their dorm mattress everywhere they went on Columbia’s campus until their alleged rapist was expelled. The art major called it “Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight)” and it quickly became the most famous senior thesis in recent history.
Nearly three years after that performance piece wrapped, Sulkowicz is debuting their first New York City gallery show at the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn.
The Cut describes the show, entitled “The Floating World”, as exploring “themes of trauma, healing, identity, and community, and features five floating silicone orbs, connected by ropes and filled with floating artifacts. Each orb is an homage to Sulkowicz’s relationship with a close friend or family member. The installation takes its name from the Japanese term Ukiyo, which describes the pleasure-seeking urban lifestyle of the Edo period in Japan.”
The exhibit will run until April 22.
Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO