Sculpting sound

Over the next three months, internationally celebrated composer, inventor and sound sculptor Trimpin will be collaborating with a UVic team of emerging sound engineers, musicians and visual artists on his latest project, titled (CanonX+4:33=100). With the team's assistance, Trimpin will transform a group of abandoned pianos into an array of visually dynamic and aurally stunning acoustic and electroacoustic sculptures and automatons, by way of celebrating the 2012 centennial of influential experimental composers John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow.

“The pianos will be ‘prepared’ with mechanical actuators—small robotic devices to play the piano strings in a way which both composers, more than a half century ago, started to experiment with, compose and perform,” explains the Seattle-based Trimpin. Working in collaboration with Music and Computer Science Program co-creator Andrew Schloss, the installation will also use video cameras and sensors to translate movement and colour into gestures that will activate the instruments, all with an eye to experiencing sound visually.

(CanonX+4:33=100) kicks off with Trimpin’s mid-January campus visit, where he will introduce the project, conduct workshops with participants and host a public screening of the acclaimed 2009 documentary, TRIMPIN: the sound of invention, at 8 p.m. on Jan. 18 in room A146 of the Visual Arts building.

The completed (CanonX+4:33=100) will run March 16 to April 28 at the downtown artist-run centre Open Space, which is also a collaborator on this project. During this time, the UVic team will lead demonstrations and workshops and develop unique methodologies for activating and “performing” the installation as an enormous musical instrument.