This strange bear slumps in the corner of a university quad. There’s nothing cuddly about the oversized creature, or the abnormally large lamp slicing into its head.

Top Places in Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

H.P. Lovecraft House

Last residence of H.P. Lovecraft featured in his story "The Haunter of the Dark."

41.8286, -71.4052

Added by JWOcker

Providence, Rhode Island

Gun Totem

3,500 pound obelisk constructed with 1,000 reclaimed guns.

41.8251, -71.4076

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence Athenaeum

A 19th century library favored by Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, known by locals as "the Ath."

41.8258, -71.4063

Added by Molly McBride Jacobson

See more things to do in Providence »

Untitled (Lamp/Bear) by Swiss artist Urs Fischer is a unique addition to Brown University’s campus. It certainly keeps with the school’s reputation as the most free-spirited member of the Ivy League.

The jumbo-sized cast bronze sculpture of a teddy bear eerily bisected by a lamp is on loan to the University from Steven and Alexandra Cohen. It’s one of many sculptural representations of bears across the campus that honor Brown’s mascot, a brown bear. Visitors should be sure to check the office windows nearest to the installation where one clever Brunonian had created a miniature (or should one say normal-sized?) Lamp/Bear of their own.

If you aren’t going to Providence, Rhode Island, anytime soon, don’t despair. There are other Lamp/Bear siblings out in the world. A second version of the sculpture is currently sitting in the Qatar’s Hamad International Airport’s duty-free hall. A third one exists as well, but it’s on private property and is unviewable to the public.