High culture poetry, or just noise?

I went to a poetry reading last January to see final project presentations for some people in a creative writing program. The creative writing arts intensive taught students to use digital media to alter or create poetry. Most people recorded themselves reading a poem, and then added sound to the poetry reading. One girl, however, altered her piece in such a way that many of the attendees had difficulty understanding her piece. She explained afterwards that her "poetry" was actually a comment on poetry itself. The self-referential nature of her final project parallels the field of art in high culture.

Here is how the audience experienced her presentation:
First, we heard sounds of people talking indistinctly. It sounded like the ambient noise one would hear in a crowded cafe. Then, there was a laugh that was quite loud and distinct. The audience laughed along; the laugh was so out of place that we found it funny. There were more indistinct noises, and then another laugh. The audience laughed again, but a little less this time. We were beginning to wonder what the piece was about. This pattern of indistinct noises and then laughter continued for almost ten minutes. People were already bored after three. Many of us kept waiting for something to happen but eventually realized that this was the entire piece. At the end, most of the audience was either confused or annoyed.

The girl explained afterwards that she had taken a poetry reading Jack Kerouac had done once when he visited Lowell dining hall. However, she had taken out Kerouac's voice and only left the background noises. To me, she had not created poetry, but removed it. The directors of the creative writing program however praised her piece for the questions it raised about the nature of poetry. In doing so, they acted as critics within the field of poetry who held opinions informed by an understanding of poetry's history and context. The directors, having high cultural capital, were able to understand the direction that the girl was going in, namely altering a poetry reading in order to comment on the nature of poetry as well. Too bad the rest of the audience, being outside the field, didn't understand her message. To the audience, her piece was merely noise.

This is what we heard...

This is what we were missing...