Eccentric artist/inventor/engineer/composer Trimpin (he only uses his surname) shuns the hype and hyperbole of the commercial art world, doesn’t have a cell phone or a website, and has never been represented by a gallery, dealer, or manager—yet his freewheeling sculptures and outrageous musical experiments are cherished by museums all over the planet. A Seattle resident since 1980—he moved here from Europe for the area’s greater access to used technological components—his work integrates sculpture and music in ingenious ways, often using computers to create compositions that are unrestricted by any human physical limitations. Filmed over two years, this documentary follows the artist-inventor as he devises a perpetual-motion machine, builds a 20-meter tower of automatic, self-tuning, electric guitars for the EMP Guitar Gallery, and collaborates with the Kronos Quartet on an outrageous world premiere. An amazing investigation of an extraordinary creative genius whose self-made world resembles both Santa’s workshop and Frankenstein’s lab, Trimpin: The Sound of Invention will delight anyone interested in the mysteries, pitfalls, and sheer joys of creative experiment.

(Seattle Film Festival)