Why a San Francisco creative hid cellphones in 5 hotel elevators
The term "elevator music" is often considered a pejorative, a way to scorn milquetoast melodies that fit neatly into the background. But one San Francisco creative recently reinvented the term, using some of the city's most iconic elevators as means to create beautiful soundscapes.
Tucker Bryant is an SF-based conceptual artist who works as a keynote speaker on creativity. One of his latest projects was Flight Roulette, in which a group gathers at San Francisco International Airport with their carry-on and a random person is selected to fly to a surprise location.
Bryant found inspiration for his latest project in the grandiose lobby of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco by the Embarcadero, specifically the hypnotic elevators that appear like art deco paper lanterns ascending and descending inside the world's largest hotel lobby. He purchased five cellphones from a secondhand electronics store for $366, then hid them in the corner of the five elevators. Using an app that measured pressure, Bryant monitored the movement of the elevators over the course of an hour. Two of the phones were found by hotel guests and turned in to the staff, who were bemused when Bryant told them about his project.
"I think the person who worked at the hotel was kind of confused, and maybe a little bit suspicious when I first was like, 'I have two phones that were in two elevators,'" Tucker said. "But then I kind of explained to him what I was doing, and he was like, 'OK, fine.'"
The hotel itself was built 1973 and was referred to as a "sci-fi hotel" by Chronicle architecture critic John King. Its science fiction cred extends further, as it was used as a filming location for iconic time travel film "Time After Time." It also had a few more Hollywood moments, in the disaster flick "The Towering Inferno" and Mel Brooks' comedy "High Anxiety."
"The brutalist design and unique architectural components including the record-breaking atrium and signature elevators have inspired musicians, artists, and movie producers for years," Robert Ferguson, director of sales and marketing at Hyatt Regency, said in an email. "It is incredible to see how this has continued into today's arts scene around the city. The use of our elevators to create different music is one of the most inventive projects we have seen yet."
Bryant created Elevator Music using the artificial intelligence app builder site Lovable to import the movement data of the elevators and create an 8-bit style illustration of the hotel lobby. As the elevators move up and down, harmonious synthesizer tones play notes along bright chords. When all five elevators align on the lobby floor, the chord changes, resulting in a soothing ambient soundscape. He often attends local shows at the Lab and cites Aphex Twin and Caterina Barbieri as influences, but doesn't really consider himself a serious musician, rather an artist who took an idea and ran with it.
"I hope people feel more inclined to pause when they have an idea that might be fun to see come to life, even if it feels strange or feels like they wouldn't necessarily be able to pull it off," he said.
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