Investigation Reveals Student’s “Rubber Duck” Art Project Mistaken for April Fools Joke

       CONTRIBUTING REPORTER - At the beginning of the month, VC students were amused to wake up to a campus filled with rubber ducks. This incident was presumed to be a large-scale practical joke and became a topic of conversation for several weeks. However it has recently emerged that the presumed “joke” was, in fact, an ambitious art project aimed at challenging social norms while exploring new areas of artistic expression.
       A student, who wishes to remain nameless, was responsible for the conception and execution of the project, and spoke in confidence to a Nargus journalist.
       “The idea was to create something to make everyone seriously question how they see their social, political, and spatial place in society,” said the student, “The rubber ducks were meant to shock students in to becoming aware of their surroundings.  Too often we walk through life taking for granted what we should be astounded by – ourselves, the connections we make, the problems of our world… that’s what the ducks were all about.  I was using the campus as my canvas to try to teach us all a bit about ourselves. “
       The student was “devastated” when her project was seen as a joke.
       “On the morning of April 1st I was expecting to see people realize the power of my creation. But when I stepped out of my room, not only was nobody in tears, people were actually LAUGHING!”
       This incident does not represent the first time that a great work of modern art when unappreciated on campus, says the art department.
       “Troubling incidents such as this have happened before,” says a representative of the department, “As it turns out, Noyes was never meant to be a dorm but was instead a modernist sculpture called ‘The Cheese Grater Looks Inwards.’ The artist who created it was shocked when students took up residence in the hall.  He became disillusioned, and not long after switched his major to Chemistry.”
       Other such incidents include an incident several years ago in which a performance art project known as “Butt Grabbing in the Post-Gendered World,” was mistaken for inappropriate harassment.
       “Clearly this community has something more to learn about fine art,” says an art department faculty member, “Hopefully next year’s Whoopie Cushion Project will finally put art in its rightful place as one of our most serious disciplines.”