If you were on campus Wednesday afternoon, you may have seen students acting strange. Some were dancing in a flash mob, taking selfies and doing animal walks.
These students were participating in the MP3 Experiment. Around 25 students gathered outside at Founder's Plaza to participate in the experiment, which has become a global movement, to get groups of people to download an mp3 file and follow orders from a recorded voice. Wednesday marked the first time it was hosted at UB.
"We're in college, and students are always looking for something fun to do on a weekend or a f****** Wednesday," said Tal Kissos, a senior media studies major who helped throw the event. "It's just like, why not do stuff like this? Why not do MP3 Experiment? Why not do crazy stuff? We're bored, we're all creative and young and have high energy."
The Village Council of Residence Hall Association (RHA) hosted the event, which was based on the original MP3 Experiment hosted by Improv Everywhere, a comedy performance group from New York City.
Improv Everywhere is known for holding flash mob pranks and the "No Pants Subway Ride," an annual event in which people ride the subway the whole day in their underwear.
Frank Mollica, a senior linguistics and psychology major, is vice president of South Lake Village Council. He pitched the idea, which branched out to Flint and Hadley Villages.
"The whole part of it being an experiment is that you don't tell people exactly what to do," Mollica said. "You just tell them generally what to do and you let them interpret it how ever they want to."
Mollica participated in the ninth MP3 Experiment on Governor's Island in 2012 and wanted to see it implemented in a university setting.
Kissos, who also participated in the Governor's Island experiment, was the "omnipotent" voice of the experiment. Having some comedy background, he agreed to record and distort his voice for the mp3.
He said the group brainstormed to craft a story that was simple for students to follow but would also have the random commands reminiscent of the original experiment.
The recording started off by telling students to lie down and relax on the wet floor outside on the Spine while yelling out their favorite color. The voice then said it was time for the students to "get [their] freak on" by locking eyes and slow dancing with a partner to "All or Nothing" by the boy band O-Town.
Mixed into a long list of commands, the group walked like animals from The Lion King to the Student Union, where they proceeded to take a "selfie" with a stranger.
Daniel Giles, a junior political science major, is also part of the South Lake Village Council and thought the event was "eye-catching" to the people around them.
"The basic idea is that it's a flash mob, but you don't have to practice," Giles said. "Do it in a public place, ask the people to do ridiculous things, so everybody stares."
Mollica thought the experiment went better than expected, considering the rainy weather. Originally, 130 people had R.S.V.P.'d for the event, but Mollica felt the weather deterred people from participating.
Ben Antar, a freshman musical theater major, witnessed the experimenters dancing in the middle of the Union. He said he would want to be part of the MP3 Experiment because he has a theater background.
"It looks like they're having fun," he said. "It looks like they're dancing and making a scene and enjoying it."
Kevin Isidrio, a senior biotechnology major, participated Wednesday.
"I've always wanted to do one of those Improv Everywhere situations and this was the first opportunity for me to really participate in that kind of activity," Isidro said.
The group hopes to host another MP3 Experiment next year. Kissos said the event could be handed off to UB Improv because the club has more means than RHA to make it a bigger event.
Though Mollica and Kissos are graduating, Giles said he will make sure the experiment continues next year.
email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of @luv.lynnails on Instagram
