THE CHILLS, 2014


Viewing: Listening station and installation available during all gallery hours, except during performances.  

SANCTUARY (at The Rotunda) |4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 | Available to LISTEN on October 10-12, 2014

Statement:
As a filmmaker, I am geared towards working strictly with moving images. During this sound residency I wanted to strip myself of my usual visual leanings, and immerse myself with sound and examine my relationship to music of the African Diaspora, with a focus on my family's relationship to music from 1930 to present day. I created a series of binaural sound recordings using small mics located within my ears, in order to achieve an immersive surround sound.  The goal was to explore my body's response to specific sounds or musical compositions, or autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), described as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the body or “the chills”.  Being that the Sanctuary is First Church of Christ Scientist, my intent was to approach my relationship to sound as a scientist.

Binaural recordings were my entry point into the science of how one listens. The binaural mics also allowed me to monitor my recording as I recorded various music genres within the Sanctuary, creating a meta experience of hearing . I also recorded  Philadelphia-based members of the Black American community to sing songs from the genres of Negro Spirituals, Gospel, R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz, and Orisha music, encouraging them to produce the "beat" of the music by utilizing only their bodies and/or the fixtures within the Sanctuary itself. I'm interested in  exploring  how sound plays a part in how memory is constructed and recalled within the body. I also recorded, replayed, and edited the "sweet spots" of songs that personally give me “the chills" in each genre above to play within the final installation.

I have installed the final recordings and sound experiments from the residency on a set of pews located within the Sanctuary. MOVEMENT I – Sweet Spots is a long form edit of 1,000 songs that I have edited to highlight what i like to refer to as the "sweet spots" of song that give me the chills. MOVEMENT II – Binaural Beats (Mother + Father) is my attempt at creating a binaural beat by taking the songs that I can recall via memory that my father and mother listened to during my childhood before I was able to choose the music that I wanted to listen to. I wanted to approach the idea of my physical self as my parents "binaural beat". I chose songs and experimented with the frequency of the tones to induce a certain feeling within my own body in reference to both of my parents and their narratives. MOVEMENT III-Sanctuary Performances features performances by four Philadelphia-based Black women who I personally recorded using my binaural in-ear mics within the Sanctuary. I feel that these women are a representation of how music of the African Diaspora has manifested within the birthplace of America. My intent is that visitors listen to these recorded performances and experience the feeling of being present in the space of where the sounds were recorded.

Artist bio:
Tiona McClodden is a filmmaker and visual artist. Themes explored in McClodden's films have been social change, social realism, re-memory, and more recently, biomythography. She has produced, written, and directed a range of films including her award-winning feature-length documentary film, black./womyn.: conversations with lesbians of African descent, a short narrative film Bumming Cigarettes, and an experimental film portrait roots.|&|rigor., featuring Philadelphia-based sculpture artist Lorna Williams. She also recently debuted the exhibition of the first part of her upcoming four-part series, Be Alarmed: The Black Americana Epic, Movement I - The Visions.

 ℗  2014 Tiona McClodden

The Chills: Gospel as the baseline + what the chills feel like.

THE CHILLS, 2014
by Tiona McClodden

Viewing: Listening station and installation available during all gallery hours, except during performances.

SANCTUARY (at The Rotunda) |4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 | Available to LISTEN on October 10-12, 2014

Statement:
As a filmmaker, I am geared towards working strictly with moving images. During this sound residency I wanted to strip myself of my usual visual leanings, and immerse myself with sound and examine my relationship to music of the African Diaspora, with a focus on my family’s relationship to music from 1930 to present day. I created a series of binaural sound recordings using small mics located within my ears, in order to achieve an immersive surround sound. The goal was to explore my body’s response to specific sounds or musical compositions, or autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), described as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the body or “the chills”. Being that the Sanctuary is First Church of Christ Scientist, my intent was to approach my relationship to sound as a scientist.

Binaural recordings were my entry point into the science of how one listens. The binaural mics also allowed me to monitor my recording as I recorded various music genres within the Sanctuary, creating a meta experience of hearing . I also recorded Philadelphia-based members of the Black American community to sing songs from the genres of Negro Spirituals, Gospel, R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz, and Orisha music, encouraging them to produce the “beat” of the music by utilizing only their bodies and/or the fixtures within the Sanctuary itself. I’m interested in exploring how sound plays a part in how memory is constructed and recalled within the body. I also recorded, replayed, and edited the “sweet spots” of songs that personally give me “the chills” in each genre above to play within the final installation.

I have installed the final recordings and sound experiments from the residency on a set of pews located within the Sanctuary. MOVEMENT I – Sweet Spots is a long form edit of 1,000 songs that I have edited to highlight what i like to refer to as the “sweet spots” of song that give me the chills. MOVEMENT II – Binaural Beats (Mother + Father) is my attempt at creating a binaural beat by taking the songs that I can recall via memory that my father and mother listened to during my childhood before I was able to choose the music that I wanted to listen to. I wanted to approach the idea of my physical self as my parents “binaural beat”. I chose songs and experimented with the frequency of the tones to induce a certain feeling within my own body in reference to both of my parents and their narratives. MOVEMENT III-Sanctuary Performances features performances by four Philadelphia-based Black women who I personally recorded using my binaural in-ear mics within the Sanctuary. I feel that these women are a representation of how music of the African Diaspora has manifested within the birthplace of America. My intent is that visitors listen to these recorded performances and experience the feeling of being present in the space of where the sounds were recorded.

Artist bio:
Tiona McClodden is a filmmaker and visual artist. Themes explored in McClodden’s films have been social change, social realism, re-memory, and more recently, biomythography. She has produced, written, and directed a range of films including her award-winning feature-length documentary film, black./womyn.: conversations with lesbians of African descent, a short narrative film Bumming Cigarettes, and an experimental film portrait roots.|&|rigor., featuring Philadelphia-based sculpture artist Lorna Williams. She also recently debuted the exhibition of the first part of her upcoming four-part series, Be Alarmed: The Black Americana Epic, Movement I - The Visions.

The Chills: Movement I- Sweet Spots (I)

MOVEMENT III-Sanctuary Performances features performances by four Philadelphia-based Black women who I personally recorded using my binaural in-ear mics within the Sanctuary. I feel that these women are a representation of how music of the African Diaspora has manifested within the birthplace of America. My intent is that visitors listen to these recorded performances and experience the feeling of being present in the space of where the sounds were recorded.

Featuring recorded performances by,

Adesola Ogunleye (Punk Rock) playing relax + drum patterns

Adachi Pimentel (World, Spanish Language) singing Clandestino by Manu Chao

Lela Aisha Jones (Orisa Tradition of Yorubaland) singing Oriki for Osun (Oshun, Ochun, Oxum) 

Shauna L. Howard (Folk, Classical, Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Field Holler) singing Four Women by Nina Simone

  ℗ Tiona McClodden


MOVEMENT III - Sanctuary Performances

Ana Mendieta created a rare sound based work Untitled (Soul), circa 1973 with her experimental art students at Henry Sabin Elementary School, includes recordings of their thoughtful and perceptions on the soul.  I wanted to create an extension of this work by interacting with elementary aged students in Iowa City in the same manner. While in residence at the Center for Afrofuturist Studies on may 4th I met with six  elementary aged students from the Dreamcenter’s after school program in Iowa City, IA in the Iowa Writers Center Library Room and recorded their thoughts on the concept of their soul with in ear binaural mics. I then asked them to draw what they felt that the/their Soul looked or felt like onto transparency paper, and then place their drawings on the area of their body that they feel their souls the most Lastly, I photographed the students with the retroreflective material used within my project The Backlight.

Audio TRT: 12mins


Tiona Nekkia McClodden

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