Asim Waqif: Assume the Risk

Mattress Factory is proud to present Assume the Risk, a new work by Delhi, India-based artist Asim Waqif.

Museums are typically places of pristinely preserved objects. Secured behind glass and roped off from curious hands, the importance and value of a work is protected in climate-controlled rooms with the artist’s vision frozen in time for posterity. For Assume the Risk, Asim Waqif invites viewers into a collaborative dynamic and playful installation that challenges our ideas on authorship and the preciousness of artwork.

Frustrated by the distance between artwork and viewer, Waqif’s practice pushes against the formality we come to expect from typical museum experiences. Improvisation and play are central tenants and viewers often become participants in the meaning and the making of his projects. In Assume the Risk the artist has “started a game and asks the viewer to continue it in new directions.” Waqif has designed opportunities throughout the run of the exhibition for the public to participate, allowing them to freely compose and re-compose the installation.

The exhibition’s title is a reference to assumption of risk, a legal concept which involves a conscious and willing acceptance of risks that are inherent and integral to the activity (e.g., skydiving, skiing). For this work, Waqif asks viewers to do the same when entering the gallery, to understand that in order to fully experience the installation, one has to recognize that there are dangers inherent to participation. These risks are physical, such as tripping, as well as intangible, like the risk of failure that is inherent to all creative pursuits.

Ultimately, it is a dynamic, iterative, and playful work, that responds not only to the environment that it exists in, but also to the materials sourced. Items were gathered from a former flashlight factory, a local architectural salvage, and via a public open call through the Mattress Factory’s external communications channels. These items have been assembled in a sprawling sculptural composition. Microphones and speakers have been strategically placed throughout, so that the room itself hums and buzzes, activated and changed with the movements of each visitor.

Assume the Risk will be on view through September 1, 2024. Waqif was selected as part of the museum’s 2021 International Open Call.

For further information, contact
Derek January, Marketing Manager, djanuary [​at​] mattress.org / T 412-313-5412

About the artist
Asim Waqif (b.1978) studied architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. After initially working as an art director for film and television, he later started making independent video and documentaries before moving into a dedicated art practice. He has worked in sculpture, site-specific public installation, video, photography, and more recently with large-scale interactive installations that combine traditional and new media technologies.

About the Mattress Factory
The Mattress Factory is an artist-centered museum, international residency program and renowned producer and presenter of site-specific installation art. Located in Pittsburgh’s Northside, the Mattress Factory hosts artists from around the world and around the corner as they develop new works. In addition to revolving installations created by artists-in-residence, the Mattress Factory also is home to installations by Greer Lankton, James Turrell, Winifred Lutz, Yayoi Kusama and more.