The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, introduces a new addition to the museum’s collection — wooden shoes that dance midair — an installation by Seattle-based artist Trimpin
 Trimpin, Klompen, 1987, wood, metal, electronics Marie Eccles Caine Foundation Gift |
The museum’s newly acquired work,“Klompen,” consists of 96 Dutch wooden clogs that “dance” a different rhythmic pattern each time the sculpture is activated. Trimpin installed the work during a September visit. “Klompen’s” 96 Dutch wooden clogs are connected to a computer by concealed wires and suspended from the ceiling. |
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Watch a video of Trimpin's lecture September 7th, 2007 Utah State Univeristy |
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Watch a video about Trimpin from http://www.youtube.com |
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| Trimpin is a sculptor, musician and composer, most of whose pieces integrate sculpture and music in some way, and many make use of computers to play these instruments. Trimpin has created works that use a keyboard to control the rhythm of water drops and a sequencer to play organ pipes with fire. Growing up near the French and Swiss borders in Istein, Germany, Trimpin (who uses only his last name) was the son of a musician who had introduced him to the idea of space as a component of music by playing brass instruments at some distance in the German woods. As a child, Trimpin had access to a variety of old brass instruments and learned to play them, but a skin allergy forced him to give up playing. His interest in technology was sparked at this early age when he began experimenting with the instruments and old radios. |
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Trimpin advanced his studies at the University of Berlin, and went on to invent machines to play every instrument of the orchestra via MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) commands. His mechanical cello can achieve virtually unnoticeable bow changes, and his MIDI timpani can be rubbed quickly by the mallet for a timpani drone unachievable by human hands. Eventually he became interested in acoustical sets while working in theater productions with Samuel Beckett and Rick Cluchey, director of the San Quentin Drama Workshop. Trimpin explains his approach as "extending the traditional boundaries of instruments and the sounds they're capable of producing by mechanically operating them. Although they're computer-driven, they're still real instruments making real sounds, but with another dimension added, that of spatial distribution. What I'm trying to do is go beyond human physical limitations to play instruments in such a way that no matter how complex the composition of the timing, it can be pushed over the limits."
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 http://vroomjournal.com/video/trimpin.php http://www.vroomjournal.com/articles/trimpinsu.php
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 http://www.museumofglass.org/exhibitions/fire-organ/ |
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