Polish textile artist arrested after crochet-penis protest at Mattress Factory museum

On February 24, 2020, Agata Oleksiak, a textile artist from Poland residing in New York, was taken into custody for defiant trespass at the Mattress Factory museum in Pittsburgh. This arrest occurred after she staged a protest by selling vividly colored woven penises in the gallery's lobby, expressing her dissatisfaction with the museum's treatment of her. Previously, Oleksiak had been an artist-in-residence but was dismissed following an alleged incident at a private event on February 2. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that during the Imbibe Pittsburgh event, she was accused of headbutting another attendee, causing a bloody lip. Oleksiak contends that the contact was accidental while she was using virtual reality goggles. Following the protest, she received a police citation and spent a night in Allegheny County Jail. Her demonstration coincided with a performance by composer Nathan Hall, whose works explore themes of intimacy and kink, underscoring the friction between artists and institutional regulations.