In these pieces, Robleto considers how much emotional power and meaning our culture places on songs. Since childhood, the artist has been captivated by the unmanned Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977 to venture deep into outer space and collect data on distant stars, planets, and moons. Traveling on Voyagers 1 and 2 are copies of the Golden Record, a collection of analogue sounds and images compiled by scientist Carl Sagan and his team in an effort to represent human existence to other life forms that might someday encounter the spacecraft. Of the 27 songs included on the album, Blind Willie Johnson’s 1927 recording “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” was selected to convey loneliness. Robleto pairs a sculpture inspired by Johnson’s song and its profound intergalactic task with another sculpture, one that encourages contemplation of an 1888 recording of Handel’s oratorio “Israel in Egypt” (1739), performed at London’s Crystal Palace before 23,722 spectators. This is the earliest known recording of a live musical performance. As we listen to it today, we share an experience with the people who made up the Crystal Palace orchestra, choir, and audience over 125 years ago, suggesting a poignant continuity in the human passion for music.