Some Kind of Mess or Art Project or Something

I was walking around tonight, when I came upon this, on East 7th Street:

The letters behind the square thing appear to spell ALMOST.

There was a black chair to the right of this, with black paint or something in it. Maybe tar. You can see some of it on the rug. If I remember correctly, there was a lamp or something above the chair with this black stuff dripping very slowly, like pitch, downward. A man was photographing it, and I think he described it as "demented". The chair didn't interest me though, so I didn't take a picture of it.

Personally, I think it's a mess. Probably the superintendent of the building will think so too.