StarQuest: a Performance-Lecture by Maya Man

StarQuest is a generative, software-based body of work that takes up the tropes and aesthetics of American competitive dance to consider the staging of the self online. Drawing on Man’s childhood experience as a competitive dancer as well as the cult American reality television series Dance Moms, StarQuest reflects on optimization, discipline, and spectacle in contemporary digital culture. The program will be introduced with a screening of StarQuest. This will be followed by the performance-lecture, written and performed by the artist, that integrates generative media, online content, and choreography to consider the parallels between competition dance culture in America and today's algorithmic ecosystem that encourages a quantifiable performance of self. The performance will be followed by a conversation between the artist and curators Laura Herman and Micol Ap. Part of the V&A’s Digital Art Season: On Agency which runs until 3 December 2026, exploring the fluid boundaries between human and machine agency. About the artist: Maya Man (b. 1996, Pennsylvania, USA) is an artist focused on pop culture’s soft power and contemporary identity on the internet. Her work examines dominant narratives around femininity, authenticity, and the performance of self. She has exhibited or performed at Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; MOCA, Los Angeles; bitforms, NYC; MoMu, Antwerp; SOOT, Tokyo; and Rhizome at the New Museum, NYC. Her work has been featured in Art in America, Document, Los Angeles Review of Books, and CURA among other publications. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Walker Art Center. She is online at mayaontheinter.net. Written and performed by Maya Man Directed by Mackenzie Davenport