Something that makes working in the Mattress Factory special is how new things come out for artists during the installation process. Eugene Macki, a British-born mixed media artist, will be debuting Reification in a passageway-like space on the fourth floor of the Mattress Factory main building starting November 16. “That [it looked like a passageway] was my initial thought when I first visited, and the idea of movement sparked an interest. During the installation of the show, the character of the space became even more apparent to me,” Macki told TABLE. They had never been to Pittsburgh prior to their site visit in January 2024, but since then they’ve been installing in the space on and off during the year.
Eugene Macki Brings a Sense of Place to the Mattress Factory
Macki’s work draws from the mystery of archaeological sites, where we relate to the ancient past as something to discover and uncover, when in reality they’ve been where they are for thousand of years. “This particular work for the Mattress Factory draws from the Terracotta Army of China and archaeological sites in Greece,” Macki explained. For the exhibition, they created over two hundred rubber-coated sculptures buried in a landscape of thousands of cut cardboard pieces.
“In 2023, I traveled to Athens for a research trip. Monuments were my main focus, but the physical remains of past human activities had a profound impact on me. Each site I visited triggered a particular sense of place,” they told TABLE. “While thinking about my exhibition, I wanted to capture similar emotions. To create a site where beneath the surface lies stories and secrets. […] This site is waiting to be discovered.”
What is Reification?
The word “reification,” which is the title of the installation, has a murky meaning, easily veering into the sort of art-speak so many people find fault perplexing. Technically, it means “The process of regarding or treating an abstraction as if it had concrete or material existence.” But it can have larger consequences. If you think putting a roof over a homeless person’s head means they now have a “home,” just because they have a physical place to stay, you’ve reified a complex idea and avoided engaging with the complexity of what a home really means. (A social support network, access to resources, stability, safety, and health).
Macki’s work engages with this concept by using time-based media and “land work” to play with the abstract and the concrete. Where do our minds go when we see an abstract work of art? How do we visually relate to abtract installation work, which is often falls into a kind of uncanny valley of objects? Perhaps the title Reification can refer to trying to find meaning or concreteness in the unfamiliar as you dig through cardboard pieces to find
Searching for the Unknown
I was struck by an interview in Maake Magazine where Andreana Donahue asked them “Can you walk us through your overall process? How would you describe your approach to manipulating materials? What about decision-making and editing?” A standard art writer question, filling in the context with easily digestible ideas about what artmaking is. But Macki’s response was: “If I have answers to these questions, I would not be able to create. At least create the kind of works I am trying to create.” Macki is comfortable with not-knowing as a generative state, something that maybe all artists need to become comfortable with.
Even on their website, you can find that sense of not-knowing—if you click on their “art practice” tab, it leads you to a webpage instructing you to click a box that then bounces you to a random exhibition project of Macki’s. It’s clear that they find a sense of playfulness in not trying to reify the abstract. On what they hope people take away from Reification, Macki said that “My desire is for viewers to have an experience they have never had before. I hope that they will return and their emotions will intensify and overwhelm during every visit.”
Story by Emma Riva / Photo of earlier work by Eugene Macki, courtesy of The Mattress Factory
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