PITTSBURGH, PA.- The Mattress Factory has unveiled "Acupuncture," a permanent public light installation created by German artist Hans Peter Kuhn, on the roof of the museum. The light sculpture was nearly 10 years in the making, and its unique shape has changed the skyline of the City of Pittsburgh.

Hans Peter Kuhn has a long history with the Mattress Factory. He first worked with the museum in 1986, creating a collaborative public sound performance with the artist Benôit Maubrey. In 1987, he returned to the Mattress Factory to perform "Jenseits von Reden" and "Fünf Hören (Hear Five)." In 2001, he created “Scanner”, a site-specific installation for the Mattress Factory exhibition Visual Sound (Part II).

Made from custom LED light tubes, "Acupuncture" appears as long white lines of light. The "light sticks," as Kuhn calls them, appear to "pierce" through the top floor of the museum, coming out of the roof and the south-facing side of the Mattress Factory at 500 Sampsonia Way. The installation's size and configuration make the piece visible from all angles, throughout the neighborhood and the city. The sculpture is lit from 8 - 11pm each night.

Hans Peter Kuhn is a Berlin-based artist and composer who creates large-scale site-specific light and sound environments for public spaces, museums, theater, and dance. Kuhn’s work has been exhibited at Centre Pompidou, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the Venice Biennale; Metropolitan Opera, New York; Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York; ICA, London; and Museum of Fine Arts Boston, among many others. Kuhn was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion at the 1993 Venice Biennale for "Memory/Loss," his collaborative installation with theater director and playwright Robert Wilson.