When professor John Young asked students in his ART 332 class to think outside of the box about public art project, he had no idea they would come up with the idea to live inside one.

This box, called “Student Village,” was a 20-foot-by-30-foot public sculpture made from wood, oriented-strand board and fencing. It was displayed between Northeast 42nd Street and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast during the 40th annual U-District StreetFair this past weekend.

The students lived in this public sculpture for 36 hours to recall similar exhibits from the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (A-Y-P) Exposition in 1909 that was held at the University of Washington campus. During the A-Y-P, Native Alaskans and members of the indigenous tribe Igorot from the Philippines were put in cage-like settings so people could observe their day-to-day lifestyles.

However, instead of just 36 hours, these indigenous people were often publicly observed for months. The A-Y-P fair lasted from June 1 to Oct. 16, 1909.

Tiffany Pruitt, a junior at the UW who is in charge of public relations for the class, said they wanted to inform the public about this particular event in Seattle’s history because it is not very well-known but is “morally interesting.”

None of the students expected to live in a public sculpture for 36 hours when they first signed up for the class.

Dmtriy Gavralov, a senior at the UW, thought their class project would be more of a “low-scale, public art sculpture.”

The idea of designing the live-in installation was a group effort.

“The class is like a think tank, Young said. “The key is that students get an experience that will last a lifetime.”

The class began with a research phase in which historians presented about the A-Y-P.

After learning about the history, “We wanted to put ourselves on display and have our privacy invaded, as if we’re being observed in a zoo or museum, just like [the indigenous people] were,” Pruitt said.

Descriptions and photographs of the indigenous people at the 1909 A-Y-P world’s fair were posted outside the “Student Village.” Inside, students were on their computers, playing video games, lounging on couches, and even smoking cherry and orange-sherbet flavored hookah.

During the 1909 exhibits, indigenous people were situated culturally imitated settings, which is why the students decorated the sculpture to simulate their own rooms.

“We never meant to duplicate or mock the past,” Pruitt said. “We’re just being ourselves and displaying historical culture as much as we can.”

Young arranged meals for the students, such as Chinese take-out and pizza for lunch. The students thought the startled reaction of the pizza delivery guy when he arrived at the live-in sculpture was humorous.

For the most part, the students were art majors, however three different languages were spoken in the village: English, Romanian and Chinese.

The students dedicated many hours to the project. Justin Dissmore, a senior at the UW, worked on it for almost 40 hours a week.

Dissmore felt accomplished and relieved after “putting in the final nail and just looking at [the sculpture]. It was a totally different experience and experiment,” he said.

Building the installation was an opportunity to learn about history and art — not just for the students, but for the public as well.

“It’s an example of showing how silly previous notions can be, especially in context of today,” said Daniel Carr, who is a UW alumnus working as a research scientist of pathology at the UW.”

“Student Village” was visited by many StreetFair passersby and was received with mixed feelings. Many observers initially had a confused reaction as they walked in on the group of students behind the fencing. Others thought that it was just some spectacle people could gawk at, while some expressed that they thought what the students did was a bold way to raise historical awareness.

Overall, the crowd was responsive and curious about the project, and most people who walked into the exhibit conversed with the students and were able to learn about that particular event in Seattle’s history.

Young and his previous classes have created many pieces of public art in the past, but this was their first performance installation.

“The project is really unique in that it’s like an urban camping experience in the middle of the street,” he said. “It’s generating conversation and controversy.”

Observers were able to talk with the students about the purpose of the project and the history of the A-Y-P event.

“People look in and feel awkward,” Pruitt said. “It’s really interesting because people think they’re observing us, but at the same time, we’re observing them.”

An especially poignant moment was when a native Igorot woman came into the “Student Village” and said she had a powerful experience learning about this part of her cultural history.

Two Seattle TV news stations interviewed the students living inside the sculpture.

“We’ve heard people say this is like a reality TV show,” Pruitt said. “Some people have seen us on Channel 13 and were like, ‘You guys are like celebrities.’ But that’s good, because we want publicity for the public to know about the purpose of this project.”

ART 332 is the last design-building course Young is teaching. The class is documenting their 36-hour experience in a book with pictures and comments from each student that will be archived in Suzzallo Library and made available on the UW Public Art Web site.

“The experience needs to live beyond the installation,” Young said. “[‘Student Village’] is a very provocative piece. It’s more than artwork; it’s a social experiment.”

Reach reporter Carolyn Yuen at features@dailyuw.com.