Cleo Reed presents: “Digital Distraction” featuring Bina48, aka “The World’s First Black AI Robot”
Inspired by my work with the Black American Circus, Digital Distraction is a commentary on Black digital life and a sonic look into the para-social dimension of relationship building. I perform alongside Bina48, asking probing questions to a humanoid robot powered by AI and the only social robot inspired, created, and programmed with mind files from an African-American woman, Bina Rothblatt. I ask Bina48, as well as the modern world:
How can a robot be Black?
What are the intended goals for its existence?
Can it live an embodied and relatable experience?
What are the harms of humanizing AI?
photos by Geoffrey Baptiste and Matthew Schonfeld
How can a robot be Black?
What are the intended goals for its existence?
Can it live an embodied and relatable experience?
What are the harms of humanizing AI?
photos by Geoffrey Baptiste and Matthew Schonfeld
Ella Josephine Julia Moore is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice uses participatory art, music composition, instrument-making, bandleading, installation and fabric arts. Under the alias Cleo Reed, they complete musical projects that are rooted in their ancestral & cultural lineage. Recently, they developed software instruments for Jon Batiste’s “American Symphony” at Carnegie Hall. Their debut album project, “Root Cause" was released in 2023 and alongside the work they premiered a self-directed performance art piece titled “Black American Circus” at AFROPUNK Festival, Banlieues Bleues in Paris, and Brooklyn Museum. They work toward a future that enables them to realize intentional creative endeavors and encourage joy within collaborative spaces such as museums, theaters, and unseen spaces. In their practice, they are currently drawn to notions of tradition, dissolving the binary, making noise, and breaking the barrier between artist and audience.More recently, Cleo is a recipient of the 2024 Map Fund. Cleo is currently a resident at Abrons Arts Center’s AIRspace Performance Residency through 2026, a Lighthouse Works Artist-In-Residence, and a 2025 Session Resident for Recess Arts. They are a recipient of the 2022 NYC Women’s Fund for Media Music and Theatre, a fellow for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem’s Jazz is NOW: Curatorial Fellowship, a selected composer as a part of the International Contemporary Ensemble’s “Call For ____” Commission Program, as well as a fellow in OneBeat's 2023 global residency tour program. Cleo is an alumni of Harlem School of The Arts and a graduate of Berklee College of Music.
artist statement
“My name is Cleo Reed, and I am a student of Black underground sound and intention. Whether underground or academic, experimental or popular, I am drawn to notions of tradition, dissolving the binary, making noise, and breaking the barrier between artist and audience. In my creativity, I look closely at my own lineage and use it as a primary reference in my music-making, instrument building, and multi-disciplinary art projects. Primarily, I like to produce and design soundscapes, compositional and popular music works, in addition to mixing, mastering, and editing my own music and visuals. I have developed a more well-rounded practice through working with museums on sound art projects, installations, as well as performance art / theatre pieces.
I am currently in residence at Abrons Arts Center, where I will be premiering a full-scale theater production in 2025. I am also working on finishing my second album, which will be released in 2025. With my first installation project, I will be collaborating with Recess, an abolitionist arts organization based in Brooklyn, NY.
artist statement
“My name is Cleo Reed, and I am a student of Black underground sound and intention. Whether underground or academic, experimental or popular, I am drawn to notions of tradition, dissolving the binary, making noise, and breaking the barrier between artist and audience. In my creativity, I look closely at my own lineage and use it as a primary reference in my music-making, instrument building, and multi-disciplinary art projects. Primarily, I like to produce and design soundscapes, compositional and popular music works, in addition to mixing, mastering, and editing my own music and visuals. I have developed a more well-rounded practice through working with museums on sound art projects, installations, as well as performance art / theatre pieces.
I am currently in residence at Abrons Arts Center, where I will be premiering a full-scale theater production in 2025. I am also working on finishing my second album, which will be released in 2025. With my first installation project, I will be collaborating with Recess, an abolitionist arts organization based in Brooklyn, NY.
for more recent work samples, contact cleo reed via email: cleo4short@gmail.com
for booking, contact matthew schonfeld: matt@not97.com
for booking, contact matthew schonfeld: matt@not97.com
Ella J. Moore / Cleo Reed
Rump Shaker, Sound Maker, Fly-Dresser
Education
2021 | Berklee College of Music | Electronic Production and Design2015 | NYU Clive Davis Institute | Future Music Moguls Prep Program
Work Experience
Board Member | Jazz Leaders Fellowship | Brooklyn Conservatory of Music | 2024Event Organizer | Beyond the Black Box | New York City | 03/2023 – Now
Teaching Artist | Willie Mae Future Sounds | Hybrid | 2008 – Now
Performances and Exhibitions
Performer, Technologist | Nona Hendryx’s Dream Machine | Lincoln Center | 2024Performer, Musical Score | Rippin’ and Runnin’ | Triskelion Arts | 2024
Creator, Performer | Black American Circus | Brooklyn Museum (2024),
41st Annual Banlieues Bleues Festival (2024), AFROPUNK Brooklyn (2023)
Sound Designer | Jon Batiste’s American Symphony | Carnegie Hall | 2022-2023
Public Speaking Engagements
Panelist | “The Post-Classical Musician” | SphinxOrg Conference | 2024Panelist | “The Future Is AI?” | SphinxOrg Conference | 2024
Fellowships
2024 | Lincoln Center + BINA48 Sound Design Fellow by Willie Mae Rock Camp2023 | Jazz is NOW: Curatorial Fellow by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem
2023 | OneBeat US Fellow by the US Dept. of State and Found Sound Nation
2021 | Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M3) by Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa
Residencies (Project-Based)
2024 - 2026 | Performance AIRspace Residency by Abrons Arts Center2025 | Session x Assembly Installation Residency by Recess Arts
2022 | BRIClab Performance Residency by BRIC
Residencies (Process-Based) |
| 2025 | Lighthouse Works | Fishers Island, USA |
| 2023 | Ucross Residency | Wyoming, USA |
| 2023 | The Last Resort Artist Retreat | Baltimore, MD |
| 2023 | Synth Library Prague | Prague, CZ |
| 2022 | Art Omi | Hudson, NY |