We Are Sweet Together

Providence, RI, United States

Add To Collection

Other Projects by PDA - Public Displays of Affection Studio

Add To Collection

Public Kitchen

We Are Sweet Together

Providence, RI, United States

Firm

PDA - Public Displays of Affection Studio

Type

Commercial › Retail
Cultural › Cultural Center

YEAR

2009

Providence Art Windows is a quarter-annual event in which artists from the Providence community design window installations for various downtown businesses. This window installation, designed as a 3-D poster, speaks to the importance of community and the fragility of its structure. A sculpture of a neighborhood delicately balanced on a foundation of thin dowel rods. At the foot of the sculpture were mountains of loose sugar with hundreds of cups of sugar sprinkled throughout. The cups of sugar referred to simple, neighborly gestures that are important during the current economic struggles. The loose sugar sprawled out from the piles to spell the word “sweet.” Typographic stickers on the window surface spelled, “We are together.” An intentional space between the words “are” and “together” allowed a secondary surprise read, “we are sweet together”, at certain viewing angles. The window was also covered with stickers of the wall shapes of the house sculptures. Finally, the background was a handcut illustration of the sculpture. The choice of white allowed for a unification of a complicated design system. Our window installation was located near a main public transportation hub in Providence. A diverse range of people passed by the window while we were installing. We received many smiles, “thank you’s” and thumbs-ups. During the photo documentation of the project, a random passersby, Nathaniel Lepp, offered to climb a fire escape to get a shot from a better perspective. He jumped up to the base of a ladder 10 feet from the ground and climbed to the 4th floor.