2024 PVDFest Public Art
In the Winter of 2024, the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism (ACT) put out a call inviting artists to submit qualifications and designs for Public Art at PVDFest 2024. Three sites were pre-selected by PVDFest organizers and the Art in City Life Commission, and four semifinalists were asked to submit design proposals specific to one of these pre-selected sites. After a rigorous process that included written submission, presentation, and design interviews, two finalists were awarded $22,000 each to create new temporary works that will appear at two sites during PVDFest.
Additionally, a new mural has been commissioned by the City of Providence in commemoration of PVDFest 2024. The project, spearheaded by Mayor Smiley and the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, celebrates the history of theater, Providence’s Chinese American and Southeast Asian communities and LGBTQ+ contributions in Downtown Providence. The City worked with The Avenue Concept and Paolino Properties to select an artist and location for the signature public art piece.
“We are overjoyed to bring back PVDFest Public Art this year. Not only with these exciting interactive sculptures, but also the mural on Snow St created by Lauren YS with the Avenue Concept,” says ACT Director Joe Wilson, Jr. “PVDFest is a time that Providence comes alive with art everywhere you turn, and these three works exemplify that by not only beautifying our city but asking us to engage deeper with Providence — past, present and future.”
About the Projects
Public Property by Sylke “Sy” Meyer, installed at the apron of City Hall, 25 Dorrance St.
Public Property is a social sculpture that presents a commentary on public space, and the evolving nature of collective memory. A plywood box, approximately 8ft x 8ft x 8ft, partially painted gold with a pinhole for a camera obscura lens. Inside the box there’s a reversed image of City Hall with a sign marking the Dorrance Street entrance saying: “Public Property.” People may play with sculpture by walking / dancing etc. for the camera thereby being projected into the box. People may use their smartphones to film and photograph each other.
The installation of a large camera obscura brings together elements from different times and places – the Civil War era Soldiers and Sailors monument, City Hall, and the viewer’s present moment – into a single point of intersection. The box itself can be seen as a representation of a world line segment, encapsulating a moment where historical narratives (represented by the monument) intersect with contemporary civic realities (symbolized by City Hall). The words “PUBLIC” and “PROPERTY” on the sides of the box mark points along this world line, highlighting the evolving concepts of ownership and access through time.
Sylke “Sy” Meyer is a writer, director, media artist, performer, educator, and co-founder of the performance group Studio206. Her practice is informed by and engages with group relations and media theory and criticism, and encompasses collaborative experimentations across theater, performance, and new media. Her work has garnered numerous awards such as an Emmy Award, and Best Film Awards at major festivals such as Seattle, Chicago, and Montreal, and has been theatrically released in cinemas, on public television channels, and exhibition spaces worldwide. Since 2022, she has been a Professor of Creative Practice Research at Northeastern University in Boston. Her current artistic research concerns expanded live spaces, natural and synthetic intelligence relations, as well as questions around identity and media.
The Art of Play by Julio E. Berroa and Haley Peters, installed at the Doorley Building, 444 Westminster St.
The Art of Play is an immersive sculptural art installation that explores the themes of play, identity, and cultural fusion. Drawing from the artists’ journeys growing up LGBTQ+ in and around Rhode Island, the work creates a multi-sensory experience that reflects the complex layers of intersecting identities and the blending of cultural heritage. As they put it “Play is an integral part of learning about yourself and those around you. By supplying vibrant opportunities for cohesive play, we hope to build connections between those who interact with this installation’s moving, spinning, and visually captivating elements regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Known for his multi-faceted approach to the field of art and design which weave both the analog and digital, artist Julio E. Berroa is often creating hyperreal and immersive scenes of intense experiences using vivid colors and organic shapes and textures depicting very intimate moments. Centered around the intersection and blend between the artificial and the natural, Berroa’s world is hyperreal – delicate and intricately detailed, as well as bold and dynamic. Berroa’s practice is informed by the thought that everything that’s unique and constantly changing is alive in different forms of expression and art-making. Berroa was born in Salcedo, Dominican Republic and has been a Providence resident since 2012. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Media Design and a minor in Photography.
Haley Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag ceramicist based in Rhode Island. He is dedicated to exploring the beauty and complexities of indigeneity through sculpting and hand-building, emphasizing understanding the places that shape us. Their mark-making is an integral part of this practice, using fingers and other natural materials to carve and burnish as a way to accentuate the hand-building processes used by Wampanoag potters since time immemorial. Finding references in the environment and working from stories passed down through the generations, Peters intends to creatively portray the connections between the Indigenous people of the Northeastern Coast and the places we currently and historically call home.
帝国崛起 (Empire Rising) by Lauren YS, installed at 40 Snow St
“This mural embodies the spirit of PVDFest and the creative energy that makes Providence unique,” said Mayor Smiley. “Public art is fundamental to Providence, and this mural will not only beautify Downtown, but also tell a powerful story of our community’s rich history and vibrant diversity. By celebrating the contributions of our theater, cultural heritage and LGBTQ+ communities, we are honoring the past while inspiring future generations.”
Design elements were selected by the artist following robust historical research and community engagement.
- The mural features a figure on the far left holding scissors and thread, honoring Perry Watkins, the first Black scenic designer on Broadway from Providence. This figure also holds a fan with the Port Arthur logo, representing a key Chinese restaurant and dancehall that was a haven for the Asian and LGBTQ+ communities.
- Curtains highlight local theaters like PPAC and Trinity Rep, while arches reference the Chinese restaurants and dancehalls that were central to the theater experience from the 1950s to the 1980s. These venues also served as unique performance spaces, nodding to Trinity Rep’s non-traditional stages.
- Two middle figures blend ancient Chinese opera with modern drag, symbolizing Providence’s Chinatown and referencing Rhode Island’s former “Kings & Queens” community hub.
- The right figure honors Providence’s LGBTQ+ history, inspired by 1910 drag performer Francis “Auriema” Renault. The jewelry in the mural is a nod to Beatrice Temkin, a pioneering LGBTQ+ ally and namesake of the Beatrice Hotel. The Beatrice and the Snow Street building are owned by Paolino Properties.
Lauren YS (they/them) is a queer Asian-American femme with a deep passion for visual storytelling. Based in LA with a B.A. in English and Fine Art from Stanford University, Lauren applies their background in literature to the urban sphere through freestyle muralism. Their signature style of high-chroma design elements interwoven with dynamic portraiture creates lush, florid pictorial portals to worlds that are as just as they are visually captivating. Lauren’s work seeks to bring an element of the fantastical and narrative fluidity to the dignity of their characters’ person-hoods, with a specific passion for creating space for queer and BIPOC stories. From large-scale murals to multi-layered works on canvas, Lauren’s work draws inspiration from queer worlds, fluidity, mythology, dreams, animation, travel, nature, human dignity and their mixed Asian-American heritage. Lauren’s vision encapsulates the lifetime search for identity, a love of local myth, and the constant pursuit of promoting just futures. They have exhibited large-scale murals around the globe including Yale University, Art Basel Miami, Wynwood Walls, Long Beach Museum of Art, PangeaSeed SeaWalls (New Zealand), the World Trade Center in New York, and have shown in galleries including Vienna, New York, London, Tokyo, and Melbourne. They completed a mural in Providence in 2016 after spending a semester studying at Brown and RISD while completing their BA in English and Art Practice from Stanford University. That mural is inspired by a Gypsy Moth epidemic Rhode Island was dealing with at the time of the mural.