Due Return

The **Due Return** was Meow Wolf's first large-scale immersive installation, located inside the Muñoz-Waxman gallery building at the Center for Contempory Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

## Official Description

> time was once a tide, rolled long out in whisper,
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> and ships it dragged, dragged in our hopes and homes,
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> not cruel, but tore our comrades, tossed our womb-borne
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> captain, asleep in myrrh and mother onto shore,
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> another wreck in the margins of wrack and calm,
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> time's salvage bay then still but for the words
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> **Center for Contemporary Art**
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> **May 13th — July 10th Santa Fe, NM**
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> **www.theduereturn.com**
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—card advertising the installation

## History

It preceded the first permanent installation, *House of Eternal Return*, by several years; but was itself preceded by several smaller temporary installations in the organisation's life as a loosely-knit art collective. It consisted of a 75-foot long, 25-foot wide, 14-foot tall two-level ship, cement-plaster-on-wire-lath caves, and several other small art pieces within the space including a projection piece. The interior of the ship consisted of a range of ten rooms meant to show the lives of the crew onboard as they navigated thirty-odd alternative universes. The exhibit featured theatrical performances from 5-10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. These included monologues, music, and dancing among other experimental performances.

It was funded $35,000 through Kickstarter, the Albuquerque Community Foundation, SPREAD, and private donators. It took around 115 artists 6,000 hours to complete. According to David Loughridge, there were around 16 different authors who wrote 60,000 words for the archive.

The Due Return only existed May 13th through July 10th, 2011 before being dismantled. Some remains were sold as souvenirs, and others made it into House of Eternal Return. The project helped bring Meow Wolf into the public consciousness, resulting later in support for the funding and eventual opening of the House of Eternal Return. However, the contributing artists' stress and money issues associated with the Due Return project highlighted a need for a more formal organisation, ultimately resulting in the formation of the B Corp.

## Locations

### Starfield

A "400-light, 48-circuit, computer-controlled field of glowing stars that blankets the whole spectacle." The stars were lit up by three multicolor LEDS and wrapped in structural forms. The stars' animation could be controlled by the Control Room or by the iPhone app. Clicking with the trackball mouse in the Control Room would cause the lights to blink, each time causing the whole field to blink faster. There were six major trees in this area, which were able to be controlled by guests.

Its structural forms were by Mat Crimmins, electronic design and engineering were by Conor Peterson, while fabrication oversight, troubleshooting and installation and were done by Sebastian Nehapetian.

### Control Room

Several monitors showed "real-time information about the environment." One of these computers allowed guests to control the Starfield's constellations via a trackball mouse. It also had a steering wheel that controlled video projection and allowed 3d models to be moved. As an alternative to the Control Room, there was an iPhone app that had the same features.

### Bunks

A 70s cabinet was salvaged for this room. Its walls were painted a cream-color, and accented with a specialty paint roller. Guests were able to look through the crew's belongings here.

### Lab

Layered stands held syringes, creatures in test tubes, bones and other scientific equipment.

### Engine Room

The engines were sound-reactive. There was a projection vortex in the back.

### Physical Archive

This section contained a museum and library. Past it, there was a garden in the ship's bow.

## Plot

After traveling through time and space for 200 years, the Due Return had traveled to 31 universes and accumulated technology and artifacts. It traveled by a 31-era timeline; In each era, the ship arrived in a different environment. These locations include fictional ones like the inside of a machine, and real-world ones like Sherkin Island. It had been stationed in its 31st dimension, TD-31, for several years. Surrounded by cave dwellings and glowing vegetation, the crewmates grew accustomed to the land. The Stahphield, an intelligent organism that communicates through its limb's photon transmissions, lives in TD-31. Due to it being poisonous, the crew decided to leave it alone and use the Heeks as a source of photons instead.

Some artifacts in the ship had markings that allowed backstory related to them to be read using a dedicated mobile app. The website that stored this lore is no longer online, but the Wayback Machine has partially archived it: https://web.archive.org/web/20110820054454/loci.theduereturn.com

## Gallery

Photography by Rob DewaltConcept art by Caity KennedyConcept art (source: https://alibi.com/art/37149/Your-Ship-Has-Come-In.html)The aquarium in Jared's bedroom contains a ship, this may be a reference to the Due Return.
## Trivia

* The source code for the Starfield's ATTiny2313 firmware can be found on Conor Peterson's blog.
* The most expensive supplies were lumber for the ship, followed by tech. The majority of the other supplies were salvaged.
* The construction of Due Return is mentioned in Piper's Diary.
* A model of the ship can be found in Omega Mart's gas station. It's also mentioned in Jesse's journal.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Olsson, Summer. "Your Ship Has Come In." *alibi,* 18 May 2011, https://alibi.com/art/37149/Your-Ship-Has-Come-In.html
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "The Due Return." *Santa Fe Reporter,* 11 May 2011, https://youtu.be/mSaVSCktExo
3. ↑ https://m.facebook.com/meowwolf.sf/posts/1319975604798548
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Peterson, Connor. "Meow Wolf’s Due Return starfield: EXPOSED!" 23 March 2011, https://conorpeterson.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/meow-wolfs-due-return-starfield-exposed/#more-122
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Meow Wolf's Due Return starfield summary." *Connor Peterson,* 20 November 2011*,* https://youtu.be/kdFGKJQCACg
6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160403214753/http://loci.theduereturn.com/node/182

* https://meowwolf.com/projects/the-due-return
* https://artifaq.io/exhibition/due-return