Online Artist Talk with Maya Man & Pita Arreola

Maya Man’s FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT (2022) is on daily view at 2pm and 6pm on the media wall at arebyte Digital Art Centre until 2 August 2026, presented in dialogue with Ambie Drew’s exhibition Soft Bodies, Cold Machines.

Borrowing from the aesthetics and language of the ‘Girl Power’ and ‘Girl Boss’ spheres of the internet, FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT generates through a custom coded algorithm endlessly shifting Instagram graphics. Through this work, Maya examines the aesthetics and rhetoric of online wellness, self-care, confidence, and success; while exposing the ways identity and aspiration are packaged and consumed online.

In this special online event, Maya will offer an intimate insight into her creative process, sharing the visual research, references, and ideas that shape her practice. The presentation will be followed by a conversation with Pita Arreola, Head of Programmes at arebyte, exploring how online culture influences the performance of identity in digital spaces.

This talk is part of the public programme for Soft Bodies, Cold Machines, a solo exhibition by artist Ambie Drew exploring what it means to grow up online in a world shaped by targeted advertising and AI-generated imagery through interactive installations and film.

This event is free and open to the public. Advance booking is required to access the online event link.

Soft Bodies, Cold Machines is on view at arebyte Digital Art Centre, Camden, until 2 August 2026, Wednesday to Sunday 12-6pm.

ARTIST BIO

Maya Man (b. 1996) is an artist focused on contemporary identity culture on the internet. Her websites, generative series, and installations examine dominant narratives around femininity, authenticity, and the performance of self online. She has exhibited internationally at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; bitforms, NYC; SOOT, Tokyo; Verse, London; House of Electronic Arts (HeK), Basel; and the online platform Feral File. She has been invited to speak on her work at The New Museum, NYC; The V&A and Tate Britain, London; and MOCA, Los Angeles. Maya organises a curatorial project called HEART, previously run out of her studio in SoHo, NYC.

CURATOR BIO

Pita Arreola is Head of Programmes at arebyte, leading the organisation’s artistic programme. With fifteen years of experience in the arts, she has worked closely with creatives to develop experimental projects that critically examine the social and cultural impact of emerging technologies. Based in London, she is also the Co-Founder of Off Site Project, a curatorial platform supporting new media talent. Since 2017, Pita has collaborated with over 200 artists from across the globe, and from 2021 to 2024 she served as Curator of Digital Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She is co-editor of Digital Art: 1960s–Now (V&A, Thames & Hudson, 2024), a book tracing the histories and evolution of digital arts.