The Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum and residency program in Pittsburgh, has named Anthony Elms as its new artistic director, starting next February. He arrives at a pivotal moment: the institution is preparing for its 50th anniversary in 2027.
Elms will shape everything the museum does artistically—from exhibitions and artist commissions to its residency program and how the institution talks about its work. His appointment signals a shift in how the Mattress Factory plans to move forward.
A Curator Who Listens to Artists
Elms has spent two decades navigating both the nonprofit and commercial sides of the art world. He joined the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in 2011 as an associate curator, and in 2014 became a co-curator of the Whitney Biennial—one of the most visible roles in contemporary art curation. At ICA Philadelphia, he rose to chief curator by 2015 and organized exhibitions with artists like Cauleen Smith, Rodney McMillian, and Christopher Knowles.
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Start Your News DetoxAfter leaving the ICA in 2021, he worked as a director at the New York gallery Peter Freeman, Inc., handling both exhibitions and private sales. More recently, he's been working as an independent curator, including organizing a solo show for McMillian at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle.
David Oresick, the Mattress Factory's executive director, described Elms as "the perfect fit for this moment," pointing to his reputation for centering artists' visions while creating exhibitions that reach beyond the usual gallery crowd.
Elms himself framed his appointment around what drew him to the role: "Artists challenge our definitions of art, determining its purpose, its possibilities, its values. For nearly fifty years, the Mattress Factory has given artists the space and support to explore those questions on their own terms." He added that he's "honored by the invitation to share in this challenging work with Pittsburgh and beyond."
For a museum built on the principle of artist support—giving working artists space, time, and resources to make work—Elms' appointment suggests the institution is doubling down on that original mission as it heads toward its half-century mark.
