ping ring tootle is a sound installation using brass handrails in the stairwell as live soundboards. Microphones placed inside the handrails (or on the support brackets connecting the railings to the wall) pick up and amplify actions on the surface of the railing (touch, tapping, sliding hands along the railings). Sound is processed directly as a live feed or with delay to speakers within and around the stairwell between the lobby and the second floor.

The sound is generated through chance or intentional actions of the hotel guest, staff or the general public en route up or down the staircase. Actions may be a hand gripping the railing, the physical contact of a ring hitting the surface of the railing, tapping fingers, or a hand sliding along the rail. Sounds range from rhythmic to percussive to continuous or to drone-like, depending on the initial actions. Sound is relayed to multiple speakers with varying delays and looping, animating the space, and complicating causality and the compositional process. The sound attracts the attention of the participant who may be oblivious to the existence of the installation.

The conditions are set up for the participating public to author and to perform a sound composition through daily actions. The installation activates a well-used passageway as an acoustic environment and sound chamber through using architectural features as interfaces for instrumentation. The sound is visceral presence in the site.

This project has been made possible with the support of Carbon Computing.