EXHIBITION SCHEDULE 2005
July 2 – October 2 The Henry Art Gallery, "PHFFFT" (plus a variety of notations graphically exhibiting Trimpin’s thought process in the creation of “PHFFFT.” The graphical scores serve as a blue print for the artist’s ideas and musical information)
Sept. 30 – Nov. 27 Consolidated Works, "Sheng High"
Dec. 14, 2005 -April 16, 2006 Museum of Glass, "Fire Organ"

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE 2006
January 11 - 13 Museum of Glass Science of Art Project, Trimpin with Dr. Rand Worland, University of Puget Sound, This interdisciplinary unit is developed for middle and high school students and will examine the creative process and the physics of standing waves. Schools receive the units in advance of a Museum visit. Trimpin and Dr. Worland will actually implement elements of the curriculum at the Museum on January 11, 12, 13.
Jan. 6 – Feb. 24 Jack Straw Productions, "Archival Investigations,"
Feb. 8 – 12 Museum of Glass Hot Shop Visiting Artist Residency, a program providing artists with the means to experiment and explore new directions in their art that may not be possible in their own studios. Trimpin, assisted by the hot shop resident glassblowing team, will create glass spheres for his “Shhh” piece.
Feb. 17 - April 9 Washington State University Museum of Art, "Sheng High,"
Apr. 28 – July 28 Suyama Space, "Shhh,"
June 23 – July 2 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, “Klavier Nonette,”
July 14, 2006-January 14, 2007 The Frye Art Museum, "Klompen" (plus a variety of notations graphically exhibiting Trimpin’s thought process in the creation of “Klompen.” The graphical scores serve as a blue print for the artist’s ideas and musical information),

Individual Artwork Descriptions:

CONLONINPURPLE
Trimpin named this piece in honor of the composer Conlon Nancarrow, an innovative musical mind of this century who wrote rhythmically complex music almost exclusively for player piano.
“Conloninpurple” is a 5-octave instrument, spatially divided into 14 groups, with vertical movements of falling and ascending percussive rhythms moving rapidly through the space. Five octaves of tuned wooden bars, and two octaves of metal bars (a total of 72 sound sources), are the sound sources that are all “naturally” produced, not amplified or synthesized. Each instrumental unit, or “column,” has six alternating tone ranges, divided into octave groups. Each bar has an electro-magnetic mallet system. A magnetic field activates a plunger that shoots upward and strikes the bar. The dynamic ranges are from almost inaudible to full force, so each individual bar responds to any dynamic level.
A kinetic occurrence results from the striking mallets, a small momentum builds and sets the hanging column in motion, so subtle turning movements are visible. The viewer has the opportunity to interact with, or “play” the instrument through manipulation of a 2-wheel control console. Also, pre-composed musical sequences stored on a musical data disk, can be triggered on demand.

FIRE ORGAN
The principle of Fire Organ mechanics is pure thermodynamics: a regular organ pipe functions through the use of forced air to build up a column of air that produces a particular pitch. The Fire Organ achieves the same thing by using the natural physics of warm air rising, so there is no need for external forces. Since the flames are contained inside hand-blown glass vessels and Pyrex tubing, there is no element of danger.
When a gas flame is placed in a tube, the air passing over throws the flame into vibration and causes musical sounds. The pitch of the note is based on the same principle as that of an open organ pipe, i.e. the length of the tube affects the sound produced. In this case, the temperature of the flame is also a factor. While the sound continues, the vibration of the flame consists of a series of periodic extinctions (total or partial) between every two cycles in which the flame recovers its brightness. Besides the fundamental note of the associated tube, the flame can also be prompted to excite the higher overtones of the tubes. By varying the size of the flame through temperature, it is possible to obtain a series of notes whose rate of vibration is in the ratio of the numbers 1:2:3:4:5 – the fundamental tone and its first four harmonics.

KLOMPEN
The Dutch word for Holland’s traditional wooden shoe is “Klompen.” The installation includes 120 wooden shoes that hang from the ceiling in an array of percussive sound-producing shoes connected by concealed wires to a computer. The shoes resonate sound when they are electro-mechanically struck by a tiny mallet attached inside each shoe. The electro-mechanical impulse is dictated by a composition previously arranged by Trimpin. The viewer is free to move through the collection of hanging shoes as they rhythmically play the composition.

PHFFFT
“Phffft” is an air-pulsated kinetic sound environment of reeds, flutes, pitched pipes, and whistles that generate air flumes and musical undercurrents, bursts of sound and sustained harmonics. Rotating sound sculptures, some of them suspended from the ceiling, direct the acoustic flow in different streams and directions. There are approximately 200 specifically tuned sound components built in that are air activated, however no other medium is used. The entire installation consists solely of natural acoustical sound devices with nothing synthesized or amplified.
The sculptural pieces are grouped in sections with some having a high pitched whistle sound that imitates birdsongs; others use reeds similar to an accordion and harmonium to give a wider harmonic spectrum for sustained sounds. Ancient tuning systems are used for some groups of instruments, since air is the oldest medium to articulate any form of artistic or verbal communication utilizing sound.
The viewer’s entry to the gallery triggers a sensor that activates an original composition stored in the computer, thus permitting audiences to interact with the installation. The strategic location of the instruments gives the audience a multi-dimensional “hearing” experience.

SHENG HIGH
Centuries ago, Chinese culture introduced the sheng, the first “free reed” musical instrument made from bamboo. It has a small reed that is set into vibration when activated by blown air. A bamboo pipe determines the high or low sound produced. A hole in the bamboo pipe, when covered by the player’s fingers, closes the air chamber and creates a vibration as air is forced over the reed.
SHENG HIGH is configured the same; however water is used to push the air in and out of the bamboo pipe and activate the reed. Up to 40 strategically placed bamboo pipes and their precisely tuned reed components comprise over a 3-octave range of sounds. Each large timber bamboo pipe is suspended by a “teepee” form construction of 10-foot poles, and centered over a translucent vessel of water. As the reed-fitted pipe is mechanically raised and lowered slowly into the vessel’s water, a specific melodic sound is produced from the air funneled through the pipe and past the vibrating reed. Each instrument/component makes its own unique sound according to the type of reed.
The signal for the mechanism that operates the movement of the bamboo pole is activated by a graphical wall scanner. Trimpin’s graphic notation of notes is placed on the wall using the same concept as the player piano, and is formed by the specific placement of recycled CD discs. This composition creates a wall-high, room-length graphical score of 40 staff lines of approximately 3 octaves, each keyed to one of the 40 bamboo instruments. The shiny side of the graphically scored CD discs reflects back to the scanning device and triggers the appropriate instrument. The scanner slowly “scans” or relays notes on the wall, allowing the viewer to see as well as hear simultaneously the played composition as they move freely through the installation.

SHHH
A colorful rotating hand-blown glass sphere orbits rhythmically around an 18-foot diameter metal ring, producing a subtle sound of cascading water, similar to a rainstick. The hypnotic sounds and movement within the luminescent globe are mesmerizing––the installation is suspended very low, giving viewers a different perspective––it appears as if it is almost floating on air. It is interactive with the audience, the rotations increasing or decreasing in velocity when a viewer is in close proximity. A cable/pulley configuration moves the floating ring in a sequenced x-y coordinate, so it’s possible to propel the sphere in any direction, fast or slow.

Artist Statement “My work is an ongoing exploration of the concepts of sound, vision and movement, experimenting with combinations that will introduce our senses to new perceptions and challenge stereotypes. Although I use the latest technology available, I work with ‘natural’ elements –– water, air, light, fire, etc. I reconfigure them in unexpected combinations and applications, pushing them to the limits and beyond, of what we traditionally think of as their role. The outcome is a unique amalgamation of acoustical sound sculpture and musical instruments. In most projects, I’ve had to develop my own components, because there was nothing available commercially that could be used for my particular technical requirements.
“More than a quarter century’s pursuit of discovery and experimentation has taken place in my development of a body of work. Early experiences in art, music and technical training, theater set design, and kinetic sculpture have served as subtext in varying degrees for each successive project. The balance between visual and aural in my work is not coincidental. I’m not content to create something that merely functions technically or is pleasing to the eye –– it is the complexity of dimensions that offers the most satisfaction. In particular, the time-space concept can be expressed musically as well as visually: there is a threshold between the two where the viewer’s cognition process is likely to perceive acoustics and physical movement simultaneously as one event, a natural phenomenon.
“My formal musical training in brass and woodwinds began in early childhood and continued from 1958–70; an apprenticeship in a school for Electro-Mechanical Engineering from 1966–73 resulted in the technical training and skills useful in later years. My university studies (1975–79) in Berlin earned a Masters Degree of Sozial Padagogik, with a special emphasis on music and art. During this time in Berlin, I worked as a musician for “Theater Zentrifuge” and set designer for “San Quentin Drama Workshop,” under directors Rick Cluchey and playwright Samuel Beckett.
“Since 1980, I have lived and worked in Seattle, Washington where I have pursued the majority of my professional independent research and experimentation in musical, acoustical, and sound sculpture design, combining music composition and kinetics with computer technology. From 1985 through 1987, I was invited to become a faculty member at the Sweelinck Conservatory of Music in Amsterdam, as co-chair of the Department of Electronic Music under the direction of Dutch composer Ton deLeeuw. Within this stimulating international academic environment, I conducted research on the various ways in which acoustical sound could be combined with computer technology. This experience resulted in my inventing electro-mechanical adaptors –– such as the “Vorsetzer” –– that can play a multitude of instruments individually or simultaneously, with the entire system compatible with MIDI (musical instrument digital interface). While living in Europe I received additional invitations to give seminars, installations and performances, including: Shaffy Theater, Amsterdam, in connection with annual Visual Music Festival, 1985; International New Music Festival, Middleburg, Netherlands, 1985 and 1986; Art and Technology Exhibition at the Technical University Eindhoven, Netherlands, 1986; the Stedelijk Modern Art Museum, Amsterdam, 1986; SMART ART Exhibition at Technical University, Delft, Netherlands, 1986; and Percussive Installation: FLOATING KLOMPEN at Jan van Eyck Art Academy, Maastricht, 1987. ICMC (International Computer Music Conference) in The Hague, Netherlands, 1987.
“From this time, I was fortunate to have the opportunity of several rewarding collaborations. In 1986, I designed 4 Bowed Cymbals for the premiere of Dutch composer Ton de Leeuw’s Resonances performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam. During 1988, I collaborated with composer Conlon Nancarrow to archive his entire body of work, in Mexico City. My composition/installation Circumference originated in a performance with Conlon Nancarrow at the New Music America festival in New York in 1989 and subsequently had additional performances in Seattle, sponsored by the King County Arts Commission. I was commissioned to compose music and design a sound sculpture installation for a new work by choreographer Merce Cunningham, performed by the Cunningham Dance Company in Seattle, New York and Paris.
“Many of my major works were the result of commissions from various institutions: New Langton Arts in San Francisco commissioned Suspended Sound Illusions and Contraption IPP71512 (Instant Prepared Piano), later performed at the World Financial Center in 1998; the Hall of Science in New York commissioned Liquid Percussion (which showed the same year at the Museum Technorama in Switzerland), both in 1991. In 1992, the Portland Art Museum commissioned PHFFFT (exhibited later in 1993 at the Tacoma Art Museum); On the Boards commissioned and premiered the multi-media piece, D.R.A.M.A.ohno, later performed at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, Iowa. In 1994, Mutable Music in New York commissioned Fire Organ, where it was first performed at special AIDS exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco; the Seattle Center commissioned Hydraulis for the Key Arena. The Museum Cosi in Columbus, Ohio commissioned Flow Motion, 1996; the Holter Museum in Helena, Montana commissioned Conloninpurple, 1997; One Reel in Seattle commissioned Leonardo’s Boombox for Teatro Zinzanni and South Florida Composer Alliance commissioned M.I.A.M.I Klangflotte, both in 1998. In 1999, two major pieces were commissioned: Magnitude in C# by the Minnesota Science Museum and If VI was IX by the Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle, designed by Frank Gehry. In 2000, the Port of Seattle commissioned a major interactive sound sculpture for the new terminal at SeaTac International Airport, titled On: Matter, Monkeys and the King (completed in 2004). In 2003, an outdoor kinetic installation entitled DipTipDip was created for the Washington State Trade and Convention Center. In 2005, a major installation entitled Der Ring will be completed for the Phaeno Museum Project, designed by international architect Zaha Hadid, in Wolfsburg, Germany.
“In past years I have received the following national/international grants in support of my work: The Goethe Institute in 1984, 1989, 1990, and 1999; New Langton Arts Grant, San Francisco in 1984, 1988 and 1999; Art Matters, New York in 1989; Meet the Composer Grant, New York, in 1990 and 1993; National Endowment for the Arts Artist Grant in 1992; Mutable Music Foundation Grant, New York in 1994; MGM Media Gruppe Munchen, Germany, 1994 and 1998; Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc., New York in 1994; The Conlon Nancarrow and Yoko Sigiura Fellowship in 1994; The Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Foundation Artist at Giverny, France Program in 1995; an AT&T Grant in 1995; the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1997; and the MacArthur Fellowship in 1997.”
TRIMPIN