Under the Radar | A {room} of one’s own @ Onassis ONX

“A {room} of one’s own" by Viola He Shown as part of Under the Radar’s Under Construction Program @ Onassis ONX

Externalizing the expedition of imagination and solitude.

WHEN: - Friday, January 10 @ 3pm - Saturday, January 11 @ 5pm - Monday, January 13 @ 7pm - Tuesday, January 14 @ 7pm WHERE: Onassis ONX, 645 5th Avenue, Lower Level

A {room} of one’s own is an XR performance and hysterical journey about making creative work within a confined space. Through voice loops, motion capture, and audio-visual fragments in projected scenes, the unnamed protagonist takes us through their adolescence as they navigate sickness, immigration, and a multilingual artistic career. Reality and fiction bleed together in this playful and raw exploration of the joys and horrors of being trapped in one’s own creative brain.

Note: This performance includes strobe lighting, loud sounds and discussions of the emotional and physical challenges of being in a hospital, which may be upsetting to some audiences. A {room} of one’s own is recommended for audiences aged 12 or older.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Viola He is a Shanghai-born, Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, performer and cultural organizer. Their creative practices engage with DIY electronics, programming, dance/movements and various time-based media, exploring pathways towards alternative structures, systems and interfaces. They create immersive experiences, installations and improvisational performances using algorithmic approaches to enhance, alternate and obfuscate audio-visual assets, investigating the contradictions of analog aesthetics and digital tools. Viola often dreams about infiltrating digital spaces with physical bodies as tools for intervention, wielding their love/hate relationship with technology to challenge the rigid infrastructures around them. Viola is an Onassis ONX member and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Interactive Media Arts (IMA) at NYU Shanghai . Viola holds a B.A. in Communication from University of Southern California, and a M.P.S. from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication Program.

ABOUT UNDER THE RADAR:

Under the Radar is the United States' premier festival of experimental theater and performance art. As a long-time New York City-based platform for cutting-edge work hailing from around the globe. Produced by ArKtype with Festival Director Mark Russell, UTR has been reimagined in its 20th annual season as a city-wide celebration that incisively speaks to our moment. Rather than being tied to a single host institution, Under the Radar's current iteration is curated collaboratively with an array of renowned arts organizations and curators, each harnessing the connective nature of the festival format to introduce some of the world's most innovative multidisciplinary voices to wider audiences. The 2025 edition of UTR will include over 33 distinct programs at 24 theater spaces, presenting more than 250 performances in only 16 days from January 4 to 19. The depth, breadth and excellence of this year's festival serves as proof that collaboration can power the American theater through this era of existential crisis into a reinvigorated future of conjoined artists ready to embrace diversity, challenge and reinvention.