Transaction Art Universe
A transaction is an act of exchange: giving something in return for something received. A deal. A trade. A particular instance of buying or selling.
A transaction is also a bank record: money moving in and out of an account. Office rent, salaries, transfers—everything becomes a transaction, an invisible trace inside a system.
Transaction Art originated in London, where I studied at Central Saint Martins. One day, I met a Mayfair gallerist who became the muse of Transaction Art. He said to me when we first met:
“You are nobody (hidden face) in London. Thousands like you come here (hidden faces) to become nobody, until you have a certain bank account (Transaction) and until you are the best friend of British aristocrats (Transaction).”
That remark turned into a slogan—the first line of Transaction Art:
“We are the children of war.The War is money. Money has no face. It’s so simple as transaction. We are the children of the Transaction. We are the children with Hidden faces”.
In 2012, I presented this slogan publicly for the first time during a performance in a church in Amsterdam. My head and face were fully covered by a balaclava. Around my neck I wore a black, high-standing collar in the style of a sixteenth-century ruff—starched, tight to the throat, a sign of Europe’s upper and middle classes. I was half-naked.
I kept my hand clenched. When people asked questions, I stayed silent. Then I opened my palm: $M, written in red.
By coincidence—or as I took it, a sign—the stone slab I stood on carried a single mark: $M. The church had been destroyed during the Second World War; during reconstruction, its floor was laid with stone brought from across Europe. That slab may have belonged to a noble family.
The slogan stood behind me, not as an explanation, but as a caption.
After that, I began to record different kinds of transactions.
Leni Smoragdova {$M} is not only the artist’s original name but also, through Transaction Art, a collective identity for numerous anonymous participants. This duality seamlessly merges individual originality with the anonymity of those who choose to remain invisible, forming a distinctive brand. Anonymity is central to this concept, embodied in the term Hidden Faces.
In her photo series Figures Collection: Different Versions, Smoragdova assumes the dual role of model and photographer, exploring the fluidity of identity and self-representation.
Her current project, Inglourious Basterds: Warm Stops, is a five-year art initiative in support of human rights within a single city. During this period, art actions were created based on scenarios devised by the artist or her co-authors. Often, city residents themselves became anonymous co-authors, organically expanding the project and inviting new Hidden Faces to participate.
Why chase a million, when I can manage the Transaction Art Universe?