Lane Shi | Otay:onii
Troubadour / Sound
Installation Performer
"My task is to solve a puzzle with another puzzle that can't be seen, be touched, but to feel."
Otay:onii (Lane Shi) is a multifaceted artist originally from Haining, China, currently based in NY. Her artistic practice spans across music, sound design, installation art, and film composition. She is the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the punk spit band Elizabeth Colour Wheel (US).
Otay’s work has received recognition and accolades, including the bronze prize for "Best Female Vocalist" from Global Music Awards, and "Best Sound" from the Audiovisual Arts Industrial Incubator Awards. Her recent music video "Un deciphered" was an official selection at the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival. Her installation performance piece Unwrap! debuted at the Ming Contemporary Art Museum in Shanghai in 2021, alongside a series of improvised sound pieces at Himalayas Museum, FanRong Museum, and more.
Her critically claimed album NAG was released on ShadowTrash TapeGroup (US) in 2018, MíngMíng 冥冥 on WV Sorcerer Productions (France+China) in 2020, which was honored No.1 in RYM China session 2021, and her newest record Dream Hacker 夢之駭客, which was released on Bié records (China) in February 2023 and has received attention from press outlets such as Pitchfork (US), NPR (US), and The Threads Radio (UK).
Onii left footprints in renowned institutions, venues and festivals such as Harvard University whrb 959fm in 2020 and Currents FM in 2021, SXSW US and Roadburn Festival (Netherlands) in 2023. Her written script for the self-produced music video "Un deciphered" was featured by Bié records, and under their curation, her ritual improvisation documentary across the Tibetan plateau was presented at Le Guess Who Cosmos Global in 2022.
Her artistic practice is characterized by an experimental approach that defies genre boundaries, exploring electronic, ambient, sound collage, and noise, with the aim of breaking down the structures that limit creative expression and achieving a bodily connection through the synchronization of the heart and mind. She believes in echoes, and the potential of "solving a puzzle with another puzzle that can't be seen, be touched, but to feel."
Awards & Honors (Selected)
2022 Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival - Official Selection - Un deciphered
2022 Fear Faire Film Festival - Official Selection - Un deciphered
2020 International Sound and Film Music Festival - Official Selection - Shaoxing Nomad
2019 Paris Lift-Off - Official Selection - Shaoxing Nomad
2018 Rome Prisma Film Award - Semi-finalist - Shaoxing Nomad
2018 Independent Talent International Film Festival - Finalist - Shaoxing Nomad
2018 Istanbul Internationla Experimental Film Festival - Official Selection - Shaoxing Nomad
2018 AMII Work Fest - Award Winner of Best Sound - Therapy Room
2018 American Track Music Award 2018 - Award Winner of Best Independent Artist - Dent - So Red
2018 Global Music Award 2018 - Award Winner Bronze Prize of Best Female Vocal - Dent - Sorrowful Seed
2018 Logcinema Music Film Festival 2018 - Award Winner of Best Original Song - Sorrowful Seed
Global Music Award 2018 - Award Winner of Best Lyric/Songwriting - So Red
2017 ReAnima Animated International Film Festival 2017 - Best Music Video - Sorrowful Seed
2017 Aug. LINOLEUM Festival - Official Selection - Therapy Room
2017 Jan. Seoul International Cartoon & Animation - Official Competition - Sorrowful Seed
2017 Jan. Berlin World International Film Festival/ ACT HRFF - Official Selection - Dystopia Rooms
2016 Song Of The Year- Semi-Finalist- Dent
2016 Dec. VOID - International Animation Film Festival, Copenhagen - Official Selection - Therapy Rooms
2016 Dec. Berlin World International Film Festival - Official Selection - Dystopia Rooms
2016 Nov. Barcelona Planet Film Festival - Official Selection - Therapy Room + Dystopia Rooms
2016 Sep. Hollywood International Moving Picture Film Festival - Award Winner- Dystopia Rooms
2016 Feb. Holland Animation Film Festival(HAFF) - HAFFTube - Official Selection - First Breath
2016 March. Laurie Anderson Award Women in Music Technology Award- Berklee College of Music Electronic
Production& Design Achievement Awards Spring 2016
2015 March. Laurie Anderson Award Women in Music Technology Award- Berklee College of Music Electronic
Production& Design Achievement Awards Spring 2015
2005 Oct. Certificate Grade 8 (top 9) Specialty Pianist - Arts Grade Examination of China
2002 May. Hualian—Coca Cola Piano Contest First Prize-State Host China
* Un deciphered, Shaoxing Nomad film and sound by Lane Shi Otayonii.
First Breath, Dystopis Rooms, Therapy Room film by Qieer Wang, sound by Lane Shi Otayonii.
精神的积极者
请你们不要自私
去救助这个世界
直到你明了消沉
真实的坚持者
请你们不要自保
去张嘴闭齿
直到你沉醉于谎言
眼泪的拥有者
请你们放下自尊
去感化讽刺的将军
直到它们温润虚假
.
.
.
而剥夺者
请你们不要吝啬
去尽情压迫
直到你看到我
而我
请不要害怕
去脱离自己的身体
直到灵魂回到了家
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Selected Press
BBC, Rolling Stones, NPR, Pitchfork, Boston Globe, Decibel, Metal InjectBoston Hassle, Brooklyn Vegan, Vogue China, Kerrang, Stereogum, Revolver, AV Club, Art Voice, Allston Pudding, Toneglow, Sputnik, Yoho Girl(China Innovation magazine), East Coast Sentinel, Travel Weekly, News Universe
Exhibitions
2015 May Naked Winger multi-media/interactive solo exhibition, Stovefactory Gallery, Charlestown, Massachusetts
2017 May Voice on Whether There Was a Bell or Whether I knocked exhibition by Stephen Vitiello at ICA,Virginia Commonwealth University
2018 July. Sound for New York CrowdArt Daydreaming exhibition, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China
2019 Automaton Alive performance show, Chameleon Gallery on canal, NY
2019 Automaton Alive solo performance show, Wonderville, NY
2019 Sound composer, editor and performer for Carol Szymanski show "He Said I Thought", Signs and Symbols, NY
2019 Invited performer for Carol Szymanski + Barry Schwabsky + Joan Jonas joint book launch, Bar Laika(e-flux), NY
2020 December. Who’s Not Broken?, StudioGallery Project Space, Shanghai
2021 May. MíngMíng: Heart Cruise, Tank Arts Center, Shanghai
2021 July. Extro-Language World II, Fanrong. Museum, Suzhou
2021 Aug. Rituals in Rituals of the Future, Himalayas Museum, SH
2021 Nov. Unwrap!, Ming Contemporary Museum of Art, SH
2023 May More Than A Human, Blanc Art Space A1, Beijing
Shows (selected)
2017 Otay:onii at the Cloud Club, Boston
2018 Otay:onii at New England Underground Festival 3, Boston
2018 Otay:onii at Fuzzstival Music Festival, Boston
2020 Otay:onii at Harvard University whrb 953fm (online radio show)
2020 Otay:onii at AM Art Space, Shanghai, China
2021 Otay:onii at OK Center, Guangzhou, China
2021 Otay:onii at Currents FM, New York, US (online show)
2021 Otay:onii at Hong Kong Community Radio (online show)
2021 Otay:onii at Ex:In, Chemnitz, Germany (online show)
2022 Essential Tremors at Knockdown Center, New York, US
2023 Otay:onii at Arkaoda, Berlin, Germany
2023 Otay:onii at SXSW 2023, Austin Texas, US
2023 Otay:onii at Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, Netherlands
2023 Otay:onii Europe Tour with Hypnodrone Ensemble
2023 Otay:onii at Berghain Kantine
2023 Otay:onii at The Meadows Brooklyn NY US
2023 Otay:onii at TV EYE, Brooklyn, NY US
2023 Otay:onii US East Coast Tour with Tashi Dorji
2023 Otay:onii at Casa de Popolo, Montreal CA
2023 Otay:onii at Essential Tremors Festival, Canberra + Sydney, AU
2023 Otay:onii US West Coast Tour with Fitn3ss
2023 Otay:onii China Tour with GongGongGong