Like a feeling of déjà vu... That's certainly the feeling you'll get when faced with OONA’s artwork. This anonymous artist was born in the Vatican on November 1, 2021. A worthy heir to an artistic scene at the crossroads of video and performance art, she is in line with the history of the feminist avant-garde of the 1960s/70s. OONA knows and masters art history, but above all, she respects the people who make it up. In "Look Touch Own", she invites the audience to touch her breasts, while attacking the aesthetics of plastic surgery and female beauty standards, a clever blend of Valie Export's "Touch Cinema" and Orlan's "Carnal Art". Déjà vu is assumed and verbalized. Déjà vu is political. Déjà vu claims a new definition of value in the art world, asserting that the creator doesn't always have to discover something new to make a significant impact. To seek novelty is to conquer, to be the first, to dominate. She's not interested in this masculine quest for knowledge. If OONA insists on asking the same questions as Valie Export, ORLAN or Carolee Schneemann, it's because they're still relevant today. OONA's déjà vu is merely a mirror of the society we live in, a cruel reminder that that culture isn't evolving as quickly as technology. 

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OONA uses the blockchain as a medium for her artistic performances, a space that allows her to explore the equity (or rather inequity) of this new online art world, where female artists still exist through the eyes of men.  Aware that the history of art is punctuated by countless examples of works by women artists whose names have been forgotten, erased or misattributed, OONA sees in blockchain technology, the public ledgers, a solution to this recurring anonymization of women artists. The artist uses her own body to challenge traditional and current representations of the female body. Her presence is felt by the public as a permanent performance. She hides behind sunglasses and a chainmail mask, concealing any recognizable features that might distract from her often bare chest. Her anonymity is a reminder of some of the fundamental principles of the web3 community: protection of privacy and recognition of the sovereignty of the individual are imperatives.

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The work presented in the "ART GIRLS TRUCK" is a still image from the surrealist and absurdist performance art piece "Basic Instincts: The Horse", which questions the domestication of sensibility, defined as our ability to feel and express ourselves. Everything here is symbolic. The performance lasts 12 seconds, the average time it takes to hit a new block on Etherscan. Nostalgics will certainly have identified the landscape of this creation: the Bliss, the name given to the emblematic background of Windows XP, an image captured by American photographer Charles O'Rear in 1996 in California. This emblem of Internet culture acts here as a symbol of a benevolently domesticated cyberspace. An undeniable dialogue with Marina Abramovic's "The Hero", the conversation on the concept of belonging seems obvious, yet OONA's video presents no flag, as it reaches its audience through a technology that functions without dependence on a state. OONA's performance poses a new question: if artificial intelligence is built in our image, what do we expect to happen to humans when we're no longer the smartest?

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OONA has performed and exhibited internationally, including at Art Basel Miami, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Proof of People London, Proof of People New York, Vellum Los Angeles, Avalanche Summit Barcelona, NFT Paris, Art Dubai... OONA's performances and exhibitions have received critical acclaim and attracted the attention of many collectors and curators.

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Text written by Annelise Stern - copyright Art Girls