(DISCLAIMER: I am not an art student. I realized this when I had problems getting into the building around 6 AM the other day when my crit was due. The building was locked, and my ID, which states that I'm a music student/instructor, could not get me into the building. Thank goodness there are architecture students who are there 24/7.)
My project "save the princess!" was generally a success. When I initially installed the project (at 6 AM!), you could faintly hear glitchy Super Mario Bros. sounds in the hallway. The sounds in the stairwells floated up and confused some students, and the sounds in the elevator made some of them giggle. Also throughout the day, I overheard some students whistling or humming the tunes subconsciously. Weird.
However, when I presented my project for critique, three of the stations were down! I initially thought it was a battery issue, but then one of my colleagues noticed that someone unplugged the speaker. And whoever did this unplugged ALL the speakers in the stairwells.
What?! How did they get up there? (Okay, I know how they got up there, but I'm short.) And, why didn't they take down the one in the elevator? I thought people had easy access to that one. Haters.
Of all the potential problems I thought I'd have (batteries running out, someone stealing the mp3 players), I didn't think someone would unplug the devices. Yikes. That same afternoon I took the ladder and plugged in the devices, but this time I turned down the volume.
Later in the afternoon I took the installation down, but I encountered another problem - the elevator broke down! I could not retrieve my setup. And, considering that the elevator loop repeated after 3 minutes, I seriously hoped no one was stuck in that elevator.
"You broke the elevator."
That's what my art professor said after I told him the situation. I hope that's not the case.
***
"save the princess!" will be installed again as part of Rocky's Reels, an exhibition of student work in electronic art.