The Practice of Environmental / Participatory Art

Soundstair is an experiment integrating people's movement patterns and electronically-generated sound. A photo-cell system is installed at the edge of each step on the stair. These are then individually wired to an electronic trip-switch system which is coupled to a set of synthesizers. The synthesizers are then tuned to an ascending musical scale and coordinated with the ascending movement pattern of the stairs. As a result, when an individual walks up the stairs, it will sound as if he/she is walking up the keys of a piano. Further, when two or more people move on the stairs, they can "play" them as a communal musical instrument. Other possibilities, which will be in Soundstair Two, are to patch in taped poems instead of the synthesizers, creating random word formations like moving the dial on a radio. Through installations such as Soundstair, I hope to illustrate and possibly generate not only new alternatives for spaces in the built environment, but stimulate creative thinking about what is around us. The following written material is a supplement to the installation of Soundstair Two. Its objective is to give the reader/participant an insight to the origins of the project, the various problems and discoveries during the construction, and the new ideas generated from the work. In order to fully understand this material, it is necessary to experience Soundstair Two. If the reader has not had this opportunity, I would hope that upon completing this written supplement one would be inquisitive enough to inquire about the actual performance and interesting transformation Soundstair Two created in Stairway 7, April 15th to June 1st, 1978. Thesis Supervisor; Otto Piene Title: Professor of Visual Design