Cello Quartet: Trimpin

Overview

Cello Quartet features three autonomous cellos and a piano on moving platforms roaming the stage, playing in coordination with live cellist Lori Goldston and circus artists Joel Herzfeld, Bri Crabtree, and Calvin Kai Ku, choreographed by Margaret Fisher. Trimpin’s MIDI-controlled instruments — including a lampshade drum machine — draw on the influence of Henry Brant and Bauhaus artist Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadisches Ballett, with costumes by Cynthia DuVal.

Projection design by Anna Henson incorporates animations created computationally in collaboration with Dimitri Diakopoulos, using algorithms that map the sound frequencies of Trimpin’s music to corresponding colors in the light spectrum, alongside filmed footage of the cello instruments animated using custom AI tooling.

Full Performance Documentation