Across the sprawl of a 60-by-30-foot screen at the , ghostly leviathans of deep time erupt into a vivid dance; Shonisaurus popularis, ΒιΆΉΣ³»’s state fossil, have been reanimated into sound, pixels and light. These 60-foot long animals slice through the dark viscera of replicated ancient Panthalassic Ocean, a huge inland body of saltwater which once covered the sun-blasted arid deserts of modern-day ΒιΆΉΣ³» during the Late Triassic over 220 million years ago. This is no mere simulation—it is an imaginative reckoning with forgotten life. Through rippling digital currents and primordial gloom, these digital ichthyosaurs do more than entertain; they confront us, asking how we might inhabit the ruins of a world once ruled by such elegant and commanding creatures.
“Deep Time: Sea Dragons of ΒιΆΉΣ³»” is a new long-term exhibit at the Museum that showcases an array of ichthyosaur fossils, a documentary, interesting paleoart, dinosaur-related memorabilia collections, and the combined histories of some of our state’s famous paleontologists. The exhibit also proudly features a multimedia installation collaboration between Jean-Paul Perrotte, Ph.D., a composition professor at the ΒιΆΉΣ³» in the School of Music, part of the College of Liberal Arts; Nick Hoffman, a Berlin-based exhibition designer; and Ivan Cruz, a digital media designer from Los Angeles. Together, they have transformed a slice of ΒιΆΉΣ³»’s paleontological history into an immersive, multimedia experience, combining musical expertise, art, science and technology to honor ΒιΆΉΣ³»'s prehistoric past.
The project reflects years of collaborative effort to educate the public about ΒιΆΉΣ³»’s Shonisaurus, the largest known ichthyosaur species. Fossils of this long-snouted, opportunistic predator—capable of devouring everything from mollusks and squids to bony fish—were first discovered in ΒιΆΉΣ³»’s Luning Formation in 1920. These fossils, named after the Shoshone Mountains where they were found, have become a symbol of ΒιΆΉΣ³»’s natural history, and the species was officially designated as the ΒιΆΉΣ³» state fossil in 1984.
In the multimedia installation, six synchronized projectors create dynamic visual scenes, such as Shonisaurus hunting schools of fish and interacting with one another and their simulated environment. For Perrotte, the challenge lay in the crafting of an evocative and unique soundscape that would immerse visitors in the experience of swimming alongside these prehistoric creatures.
Rather than traditional music – which can be enjoyed though the associated short-form documentary that is also on display – Perrotte and the team sought sounds that evoked the sensation of being underwater with the ichthyosaurs.
“They wanted it to sound as if we were interacting with the ‘ichy’ underwater,” Perrotte explained. To achieve this, he assigned specific sonic elements to the movements of the ichthyosaurs displayed on screen. For instance, a low drone accompanies the sudden appearance of an individual ichthyosaur, while shifts in pitch and detuning mimic the fluid motion of flips and turns. When another animal appears on screen it is accompanied by its own drone pitch, and the pitches harmonize and interact with each other alongside their synthetic dinosaur counterparts.
To create these sounds, Perrotte involved his students in capturing field recordings around the University campus. This practice, known as musique concrète ("concrete music"), is an inventive compositional style often utilized in electronic and experimental music. It involves using everyday sounds recorded from the environment as raw material to craft musical compositions. Armed with recorders, Perrotte’s students roamed the campus to find potentially promising sounds; rustling leaves, echoes of footsteps in a hallway, creaking doors. Then, using audio processing software, these sounds were modified and manipulated to mimic underwater acoustics. Perrotte recounted one particularly inventive moment when designer Nick Hoffman requested a sound to represent darting schools of fish. Hoffman imagined an “alka-seltzer” fizz, but when real recordings of dissolving alka-seltzer tablets failed to deliver, Perrotte turned to unconventional methods: shaking a bag of dry beans in front of a microphone. The result perfectly produced the desired effect.
For Perrotte, one of the chief joys of the project lay in the collaboration. “I like working with people in different areas,” he said, emphasizing the creative exchange with Hoffman and Cruz. Together, they spent over one year fine-tuning the visual and auditory elements of the installation.
The technical challenges of the installation were considerable. For instance, speaker placement was key to ensuring an immersive experience in the gallery space, and Perrotte needed to test early configurations in the University’s band rehearsal room before finalizing the setup. The museum’s acoustics also posed difficulties, as the space was designed for visual art, not necessarily sound. The Museum space is extremely resonant, and noisy environmental factors like air conditioning, essential for preserving the fossils in the display, had to be balanced with the auditory experience.
Perrotte addressed these challenges with creative problem-solving. “The big issue is how sound works in a space designed for visuals,” he noted. By carefully adjusting reverberation and balancing foreseen environmental noises, the final soundscape not only seamlessly integrates with the visual elements, but with its newfound home in the Museum’s walls.
Deep Time is not just a tribute to ΒιΆΉΣ³»’s natural history—it’s an example of the power of interdisciplinary art to educate and inspire. By combining digital media, creative sound design, and paleontology, Perrotte and his collaborators have created an experience that invites viewers to imagine the ancient world as it once was: vibrant, mysterious and alive. For Perrotte, the project exemplifies his philosophy as a composer and educator. “It’s about imagination,” he said. “Finding the sounds, figuring out how to make them work—it’s a creative process that’s all about discovery. "Deep Time: Sea Dragons of ΒιΆΉΣ³»" will be on display at the ΒιΆΉΣ³» Museum of Art until Jan. 11, 2026.
