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Introducting Denise L.L. Onen

Onen is an undeniable pathbreaker in her sonic cultural practice. Having honed her unique sensitivity to the world into a broad, burgeoning career, she’s already tried her hand at (nearly) everything sonic – professional installations, compositions, soundtracks, multi-valent production, technical recording, theatre. 
 

As the first black feminine body student to receive a BMus degree specialising in Music Technology from the University of Cape Town, she is now on track to surpass herself by earning a Masters from the same department specialising in graphic scoring and analysis.
 

In the meantime, she’s been in demand. Short films and documentaries for which she has crafted sound designs have played to diverse plaudits at festivals in Durban, Cape Town, Cairo, Dakar, Nyon and even at Sundance in Salt Lake City, Utah. Likewise, her collaborative sound art and design have stood out at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda whilst her compositions have been performed in New York, drawn eyes and ears at Cape Town’s (Un)Infecting the City, and in Berlin via the Oscillations project and group exhibition. In 2022, she even drew the prestigious attention of the International Oram Award for feminine-bodied innovators in sound, music and associated technology, who added her to their annual shortlist. In 2023, she was selected for a short residency as a Media and Arts Fellow with the DAAD, Berlin.

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The particular standards of intensity, eclecticism and immersiveness which so characterise her work so far stem from her vision of music-making as a kind of audio alchemy.

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artist features

As a sonic cultural practitioner collaboration in community is key.
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The particular standards of intensity, eclecticism and immersiveness which so characterise her work so far stem from her vision of music-making as a kind of audio alchemy. Exploring the boundaries of sound, like exploring one’s queerness and multicultural roots, is, for her, an endless process of discovery, recognition and transformation, wherein experience can be distilled into precious and uncanny pieces of grace. The exact form of her work is thus ever-changing but her medium stays close to the bone.

Awards (solo): 

  • Baden-Württemberg scholarship, 2024​

  • DAAD fellowship - Media and Arts, 2023

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Nominations (solo): 

  • Fak’ugesi Awards, Best Music for Digital Art (for Still Connecting), 2024​

  • Oram Award for feminine-bodied innovators in Sound, Music and Associated Technology, international nominee, 2022

Featured Artist

The Oscillations Project

installation interactive system designer: Lucy Strauss

2024

Sound Collaborator

2023

  • World Expression Forum WEXFO, Lillehammer, Norway

  • International Literature Festival BuchBasel, Switzerland

2023

  • National Arts Festival, Makhanda, South Africa

  • The Dancing Mushroom dir. Haneem Christian - MIND Foundation’s INSIGHT conference, Berlin, Germany

Featured Performer

Vocals

​2022

  • Performance Feature, Bloom (a gentle erosion), Dakar Biennale, Senegal

Featured Artist

​2021

  • Featured Artist, Surviving Solitude (Immersive Sound Art Piece) – ICA UnInfecting the City Public Arts Festival

  • Featured Artist, So Creative Summit (Digital Storytelling Exhibition) – British Council

Featured Sound Artist

​2021

  • Featured Sound Artist, Our Bodies are Clocks Made of Water, LAPA Residence, Johannesburg, ZA

Featured Performer

Vocals + Keyboard/Electronics

​2021

Featured Performer

Backing Vocals + Keyboard/Electronics 

​2021

experience

Onen has been dedicated to projects that have held space for marginalised bodies. Onen was a shortlisted nominee for the 2022 International Oram Award for feminine-bodied innovators in sound, music, and associated technology.

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Onen’s practical and academic dedication has enabled her to engage in creation in a range of disciplines as a composer, mixing and mastering engineer, producer, recordist, as well as sound designer.

Her exemplary performance is demonstrated through featured works and collaborations at events among the likes of the Visions du Réel (2024), World Expression Forum (2023), Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2023), National Arts Festival (2024, 2023, 2022); Sundance International Film Festival (2022) nomination for the Jury Prize; Dak'Art - Biennale (2022); Durban International Film Festival, winning Best South African Short (2022); Encounters South African International Documentary Festival (2021), as well as the Cairo International Film Festival (2021), winning Best Southern African Documentary.

COMPOSITION

SOUND DESIGN

MIXING &

MASTERING

  • ​Mix & Mastering Engineer, Salon Kewpie - The Legacy Project – dir. Haneem Christian, GALA Archive, District Six Museum (Short Documentary), 2023

  • Mix Engineer, I AM – Sportscene RSA (Advertisement), 2022

  • Mix Engineer, The SenseMaker Project – ACDI, Western Cape Water Caucus, UCT (Documentary), 2022

  • Mix Engineer, City Occupied – Lionfish Productions (Documentary: Housing Crisis), 2022

  • Mix Engineer, Decentralising Music Making in South Africa – Stiff Pap/Umuzi (Documentary), 2022

  • Mix & Mastering Engineer, Deliver Me – Paper Crane Collective (Documentary), 2021

  • Mix & Mastering Engineer, Prayers for Sweet Water – British Film Institute CT (Documentary), 2021

education

2024 - Present

Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe, DE

Winter Semester
Intercultural Music and Media Practice Exchange

supported by 
Baden-Württemberg Foundation scholarship

2023 - Present

University of Cape Town, South African College of Music, ZA

MMus 
Master of Music in Musicology 

Supervisor: Theo Herbst

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Focus: Electroacoustic Musicology.

Exploring Graphic Representation and Analysis of Film Sound Design as Electroacoustic compositions
2024 - Myra Chapman Department Scholarship

2014 - 2018

University of Cape Town, South African College of Music, ZA

BMus
Bachelor of Music - Specialising in Music Technology 

(distinction in Music Technology)

2018 - SAMRO Bursary 

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