Wendy Book Club : Maya Ben David - Coming of age as a 'fake nerd'

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Maya Ben David, "Fake Nerd," 2017

Prosthetics artist: Katherine Piro, Photo: Jamie McMillan

Maya Ben David embodies characters and anthropomorphizes inanimate objects, such as airplanes and other machines. She constructs and interacts with alternate universes, largely through the Internet and videos, but also live performance. Negotiating this online presence within her art practice, Ben David reflexively addresses the complex commingling of agency and misogyny online platforms engender.

On Tuesday, July 25th at 7pm, Ben David will present a public artist talk and screening, marking the second public presentation programmed in conjunction with Wendy Book Club - session two of our 2017 Summer Institute research program, lead by Walter Scott and Niki Little. Ben David will familiarize Winnipeg with her practice, emphasizing the underpinnings of her work with personas and character development, addressing the limitations and freedoms of persona performativity on the Internet. She will introduce and expand on the concept of vore - “the desire to consume or be consumed by a fictional character”- as a tool for coping with anxiety. In drawing out the complexity of this social practice, Ben David will deconstruct the underlying misogynist culture present in many online forums such as 9gag, Reddit and furry/anthro fandoms — with specific interest in the “fake nerd girl”, a term used to delegitimize women’s claim to “nerd content”.

As part of this unique performative presentation, Ben David will also screen a recent short film titled Anthro Baseball (2017).

Maya Ben David (MBD) is a Toronto based video performance Jewish-Iranian Anthro Plane. Ben David creates worlds and characters that explore concepts such as anthropomorphism, cosplay and performative personas. Ben David’s characters origin stories are established via video performance and are performed continuously through her online presence. Her characters inhabit alternate universes but also interact with each other and already established nostalgic universes such as Pokemon and Spider-Man. In addition to this, Ben David is also a character know as “MBD” who feuds with the many manifestations of herself and the art world. Most infamously, MBD is known for inciting online feuds with other artists such as Jon Rafman and Ajay Kurian. Ben David received her BFA from the University of Guelph, studied abroad at Hochschule für Künste Bremen, University of the Arts Bremen, Germany, and at Nanjing University of the Arts in Nanjing China. She has been featured in numerous group exhibitions in Canada, the USA and Europe. This talk and screening is programmed in conjunction with Session II of our Summer Institute research program, Wendy Book Club, co-facilitated by Walter Scott and Niki Little. The talk will be followed by a small reception and the chance to mingle with Summer Institute participants and faculty. Cash bar will be open. Everyone welcome!

Other public programming for Wendy Book Club includes:

Monday, July 31 | 10am Curatorial talk with Becca Taylor

Wednesday, August 2 | 7pm Artist talk with Tau Lewis

Friday, August 4 | TBD Open Studio