HCL Premiere:
Allen Moore | Solar Eulogy

Doors at 6:00 p.m.
Performance starts at 7:00 p.m.
Estimated Duration: 2 hours

Solar Eulogy is an experimental audio-visual journey through the complexities of grief, trauma, self reflection.

Across his last three albums, Lived a Devil, Solar Church, and _1984, Allen Moore has collaged textures and rhythms to create fully formed songs, hazy interludes, improvised loops, and drones that explore the distance between joy and heartbreak, structure and formlessness, and finding an inner peace in the tumult of history. Moore’s audio is often sourced from personal recordings and public archives. However, he takes collage and the concept of compression a step further: Through hand casting records with graphite, okra leaves, synthesizers, and other objects that are signifiers of the Black experience, he creates “warped mirrors” of old soul records.

Solar Eulogy builds on the sonic landscapes of Moore’s social sound art practice with a live score and projections that delve into fragmented memories and haunting rhythms to create an immersive experience of healing and survival told through experimental audio and visual compositions. Guests are invited to seek comfort through stimming, moving, or finding stillness. A variety of seating options will be provided.

Doors open at 6pm with a DJ set and light refreshments. Solar Eulogy opens with performances from HCL Artists in Residence Carissa Lee and Haruhi Kobayashi at 7pm.

Content Disclosure

This event/performance will present content that some audience members may be challenging. Solar Eulogy includes explicit language, mature themes, including themes related to trauma and mental health issues.

Additionally, this event/performance includes the use of strobe lights and there may be loud or sudden sounds during the performance.

About the Artist

Allen Moore is a Black interdisciplinary artist. Allen explores the intersections of sound and visual arts, using unconventional materials and methods to express complex emotions and narratives. His work centers on themes of grief, loss, and survival—particularly as it relates to being African American and neurodivergence– while navigating trauma, depression and ADHD. His artistic practice emphasizes the importance of nurturing the Black Imagination with social representation and collaboration. Most recently, he is making hand-cast records, paintings, and sculptures from organic matter that he puts in dialogue with overlaid sounds from the records, voice recordings, and Black soul, jazz, and hip-hop samples. He is interested in how these Black Culture signifiers connect viewers to underlying racial, emotional and socio-economic conditions, and he uses them as tools to create space for advocacy, creative representation, and healing.

Allen is a member of the trio Hearsay with Ishmeal Ali and Bill Harris currently collaborating with Hunter Diamond and Monastral Records. Allen has been a featured performer for Freedom From and Freedom To curated by Cristal Sabbagh.

Allen holds a BA from Chicago State University, an MA from Governors State University, and an MFA from Northern Illinois University. He has exhibited and performed across Chicago such as at Heaven Gallery, Compound Yellow, Experimental Sound Studio, Elastic Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Roots & Culture Gallery, Union Street Gallery, and Museum of Science and Industry, and is a volunteer staff member for the A.C.R.E. Artist Residency and Comfort Station in Logan Square.
Access Services

To learn more about the accessibility of our studio, please review our Access Information. For any other questions or requests regarding accessibility, please contact Angee Lennard, HCL’s Accessibility Coordinator, at angee@highconceptlabs.org or 312-374-1117.

Presented by High Concept Labs and the Monira Foundation in Joint Residency at Mana Contemporary. Made possible with additional support from the 3Arts Make A Wave Grant.

Official Website

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Tags: Allen Moore, Allen Moore: Solar Eulogy, Chicago, High Concept Labs, Lower West Side, Solar Eulogy