Sunday on Governor’s Island - Clip of ImprovEverywhere’s MP3 Experiment 9
The Mp3 Experiment is participatory public event created by Improv Everywhere. We stage a new Mp3 Experiment in New York each year and also tour the project regularly to college campuses and international festivals.
Here’s how it works: we put an original mp3 file online (usually around 45 minutes long) that people download and transfer to their mobile devices. Participants then synchronize their watches to an atomic clock on our website, head out to the same public location, and blend in with others. At the predetermined time, everyone presses play. Hilarity ensues as participants carry out ridiculous, coordinated instructions delivered to their headphones via narrator “Steve” and everyone else tries to figure out what the hell is going on.
I had a lot of fun. My favorite part? Walking around with a bedsheet over my head bumping into strangers in a middle of a grassy field during a “ghost-walk.”
My iPod decided to pause half-way through the event so I was off by several seconds, but I’m really glad I got to take part in such a huge event.
