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My art tablet glitched mid-upload at a gallery opening in Portland

I was at this small gallery show last month in Portland, showing three pieces for the first time. About 20 minutes before the doors opened, I went to upload the final high-res files to the display screen we had set up, and the tablet just froze on the home screen. No warning, no error message, just a dead touch response. I tried the pen reset, then held the power button for 10 seconds, nothing. Turns out the storage was completely full because I had a bunch of 4k timelapse clips from the process still on there. I ended up deleting two old project folders right off the device, and it came back to life just as the first visitor walked in. Has anyone else had a device fail at the worst possible moment during a showcase, and what did you do to keep your portfolio looking professional in the pinch?

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1 Comment

hugo_schmidt21d ago

Man, that is a nightmare scenario and I totally feel for you. Same thing happened to me at a comic convention in Austin, my laptop decided to update right as I was setting up my digital portfolio slideshow. I had to demo my whole collection off my phone in a tiny font while people waited, it was brutal. You handled it way better than I did, I probably would have panicked and deleted the wrong thing. Deleting those old project folders was a genius move, honestly, that's exactly the kind of quick thinking that saves a show. Glad it came back just in time, that's a close call I'll bet you'll never forget.