Campus security guards, jumpy in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, mistook an actor in a performance-art video for a gunman at the University of Hawaii-Manoa last week, evacuated a classroom building, and even detained someone who looked like the actor, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported on Tuesday.

Guards and police officers responded when someone obviously unfamiliar with the breadth of contemporary artwork passed by a closed gallery housing “Securrorism,” by Carl Lindstrom, a senior majoring in photography art. The piece features, among other things, a video that shows a man briefly waving a toy gun, and the passerby reported it as a gunman. The video was no match for the crack security team deployed against it.

In the wake of the artistic comedy of terrors, everyone put the best face on it. Mr. Lindstrom said he had received what every artist seeks: attention. Other art students seemed to get a good laugh. A university official said the rapid response showed that the campus guards and the local police were ready for anything. —Andrew Mytelka