WHAT DO I BELIEVE ABOUT MAKE/BELIEVE?

by Zim Syed

I’m not a regular at too many fancy events. So far I’ve been able to weasel my way into a couple big events, and I’ve only had to be escorted out of one of them by security at the end of the night.

Still most events I attend are largely filled with other aspiring artists, musicians, and a punk or two. This one had me speculating about the function of a gala, especially one titled “Make/Believe” – or something like to reimagine reality?

Everyone was dressed to the nines, well not everyone, but the folks who did dress up, dressed up. From a disco ball, to a mysterious moth baddie, to a half demonic presence covered in cigarette butts, the party was bumping. The guest list had some hard hitting celebrities such as Peewee Herman and Grimace (as known from the Grimace shake commercials). One of the mannequins from Yayoi Kusama’s Repetitive Vision even made an appearance.

I , like most people I knew there, got in because I managed to get in for free. I got a VIP press pass and got to enjoy this alcohol fueled fever dream party to the fullest. The ethereal champagne wall was a great touch, the open bar had some wonderful concoctions, there were multiple beautifully decorated sections each with a different aura and musical acts.

There were DJ’s, performances, dance floors, and a basement area featuring band performances which I later heard some drunk lady refer to as the “Punk Cave,” and according to her it was the best thing they’ve had at one of these parties.

The music was on point, and surprisingly interesting for a corporate event. There were performances by Sleeping Witch & Saturn, Jellyfish, Sweat, Ron Mist, Dave Clevr, Lys Scott , Glo-Tree, and Sneeze Awful. The food was just as good – Black Radish was amazing, alongside some other heavy-hitters in the Pittsburgh food scene. Laurie Trok and Emma Honcharski served Cake – An ephemeral, edible, site-specific interactive art installation. Cake/Believe was a fantasy tablescape, rolling hills, rocks, and plant life, Laurie and Emma performed and facilitated service of an ever changing landscape where cake was sculpture, installation and performance.

Laurie and Emma were also serving another 4-letter C-word in their dazzling outfits that night. The artists in the auction were some of my favorite artists around: Vania Evangelique, Andrew Allison, John Sanders, Sandra Bacchi, Sydney Mullis, Lizzee Solomon. Clearly the Mattress Factory has good taste.

Photo by Chris Uhren

Like any good fever dream, though, a few nightmarish qualities slowly started seeping in as the night went on. Murmurs of folks who boycotted the event, rumors flying around of a switch in sponsorships, and ofcourse the big elephant in the room — the City Paper article bashing the Trash Bash garden party of the last year over the mishandling of employees and union busting activity. The article lays out multiple dismissals that took place after there was a push for unionization among the front of house staff, essentially dismantling their hopes of unionizing. The Mattress Factory has also been linked with the law firm Leech Tishman described as an “Anti-Union Law firm” by the Payday Report. The law firm was even one of the sponsors of the 2022 garden party.

As I walked around chit-chatting, I heard from a few of the musicians that they felt like they were there more as decoration not really to be listened to. Seems to be an overarching theme with the Mattress Factory (and large art institutions in general), where they “support” their community as long as it’s beneficial and convenient for the institution to do so. On their website they talk about being “a community of artists by artists,” but I’m not really sure what that even means, especially when most artists cannot afford to go to these parties.

It is really difficult to make a living as an artist in this city, and many of us look to art institutions for jobs, yet many of these art  institutions rarely pay a living wage or even listen to valid concerns. And forget about management actually reflecting the population they serve.

In my make-believe world, art institutions don’t union bust or accept sponsorships from union busting law firms, and they pay fair living wages. I did see something about how the Garden Party raised the amount of funds they wanted or something more, so at the end of the day the gala met its function.

Zim Syed is a multimedia artist living in Pittsburgh represented by BoxHeart Gallery in Bloomfield. Along with Brew House’s Distillery residency in 2022, Zim was also awarded the Radiant Hall x Boom Concepts residency.