A friend was visiting from Japan. I took her on a tour of Pittsburgh, which included my favorite museum, the Mattress Factory. A new set of installations were on display, that I had not as yet seen.

Two of the installations were in houses facing the alley behind the Mattress Factory. My friend especially liked "House Poem" by Huang Xiang. Although Huang Xiang is Chinese, my friend said that the aged quality of the wood of the house was very Japanese in feeling.

Pittsburgh was the first city to offer asylum to writers under threat in their own countries, as part of the City of Asylum program. The city officially delared the opening date for House Poem to be "Huang Xiang Day" to honor his acceptance of Pittsburgh as his American Host City.

The house is entirely this rough, aged wood. For the 1991 International, another house on this alley was given to Ann Hamilton for her installation, "The Offering". It was my favorite piece in the International and I went back many times. I was in that alley many times. I do not remember a rough covered wooden house. But I went back to my pictures of the alley, taken in 1991, and it is there. We only remember that which we look at.