EXPRESSION.SERVICE.ESSENCE. is a permanent design installation made of 12 benches created by Dr. Samuel Ross and placed around the Design District. The concept is a study of the importance of public space. The nature of service is to determine and solicit the needs of the populace. The viewer transitions from the actor to the protagonist when both disciplines coalesce. Intimate engagements with functional sculpture often take place as familiar gestures. Sitting, standing, leaning. Each contact with the material is a composite of the senses; be it temperature, color, or surface. An affirmation of our connection to material, to location, to the inanimate and the intangible qualities of the self. The benches were made exclusively for MDD.