Do you remember getting lucky on the web? Your memories might drift towards the now-deceased "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google. Or do you ever feel that leap of faith, those serendipitous moments of glory, when you find something perfect online, but you didn't really search for it? Our podcast guest today ponders these questions a lot, delving into the whimsy and wonder of digital serendipity.
Maya Man is an artist focused on contemporary identity culture on the internet. Her websites, generative series, installations, textiles, and social media posts examine dominant narratives around femininity, authenticity, and the performance of self online. She is the creator of the browser extension Glance Back and the Art Blocks curated collection FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT.
"When I contemplate randomness in the online realm, these chance encounters and the narrative surrounding the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button come to mind. Being online has now evolved into a state where we often find ourselves trapped within ecosystems created by platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
What the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button symbolized to me in the past was the act of visiting a specific website, acting as a portal to a distinct online destination that the search engine guided you to. Nowadays, this experience has largely been replaced by algorithms on TikTok and Instagram that aim to show you content they think you want to see based on your past interactions, gathered over hours and minutes of screen time.
As a result, my time spent online feels much less random than it did in the earlier days, and it now seems more predetermined by algorithms that have learned my preferences and tendencies as I navigate these platforms."- Maya Man
She has exhibited internationally at bitforms, NYC; SOOT, Tokyo; Vellum, Los Angeles; Power Station of Art, Shanghai; and Feral File, online. Her work has been featured in Art in America, Forbes, Zora Zine, Outland, Refinery29, and more. Maya holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Computer Science and Media Studies from Pomona College and an MFA in Media Art from UCLA.
What does it mean to be lucky and unlucky in the online world?
"So much of what I've been experiencing recently is the realization that I have the power to decide whether I feel lucky about something. It became prominent during the creation of 'I'm Feeling Lucky', is my appreciation for finding meaning in randomness and allowing myself to embrace feelings of luck. When my computer generates something, like a sentence that feels relevant and comforting to me, I acknowledge that I programmed the computer to do so. However, I permit myself to imagine it as a stroke of luck, allowing it to provide me with comfort. This shift has been quite liberating. I've developed attachments to certain numbers, like 26 or 47, and when I encounter them in the world, I allow myself to feel lucky. I see them as signs of luck instead of dismissing them as mere randomness."- Maya Man
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud, or watch on YouTube.
Host: Beata Wilczek
Guest: Maya Man
Music: SKY H1
Production: Julia Kąkolewska
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Generative Art, Randomness & Feeling Lucky with Maya Man - E16