David Allan Rueter

Instrument Implement: Walla Walla Campanile, designed by artist Buster Simpson, is a public sculpture installed on the campus of Walla Walla Community College in southeastern Washington. Every 15 minutes, it announces the current status of the local watershed by sounding pre-composed songs that correspond to specific environmental conditions. At 15 minutes past the hour, it announces whether the water level in the river is rising or falling; at half-past, it announces whether the water is murky or clear; and at quarter-of, it announces whether the water is abnormally hot or cold.

Musical notes are sounded by pneumatic actuators striking metal discs, producing a bell-like percussive noise. The actuators are controlled by a MIDI receiver built into the base in the sculpture, which is connected via a long underground cable to a computer indoors. Custom software running on this computer continually monitors Internet feeds that supply data from remote environmental sensors maintained by the USGS. When it’s time to play a song, the software analyzes the latest data and chooses a song appropriate to the conditions.