This year marks both the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s first presentation of his theory of evolution to fellow scientists. In commemoration of these events and in testament to the continued relevance of Darwin’s theories today, artists John Morton and Jacqueline Shatz have created The Voyage Out, a sonic and visual meditation on Darwin’s legendary voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. The five-year journey circumnavigated the globe, encompassing 20 countries and island archipelagos, and ultimately greatly influenced Darwin’s masterwork, On the Origin of Species.
The Voyage Out centers on an abstracted, kinetic diorama of the HMS Beagle displayed in a museum vitrine. Viewers are invited to turn three music-box keys that activate the movement of the ship and let loose a flood of computer-manipulated sound. The gyrations of the boat evoke the intense and continuous sea-sickness experienced by Darwin while aboard ship. The audio component of the piece begins with the sound of gently lapping waves and chirping crickets, quickly shifting into a series of poetically random sound bites that are continually remixed anew by the computer. The classic music-box tune is transformed by commingled sounds—recitations of packing lists and field notes taken from Darwin’s biographies and journals, the song of the Galapagos mockingbird and Darwin’s finches, the honk of a penguin, the distinctive sound of an anchor being hoisted up from the sea.
A composer and instrument builder, John Morton has presented his music throughout the United States. This summer, his outdoor installation Sound Tunnel in Central Park received significant critical acclaim. Jacqueline Shatz is a sculptor who often works with collage. Since 2001, she and John Morton have collaborated on a series of music box-based sculptures and installations.