Recoding Realities—International Exchange Programme

By arebyte Digital Art Centre and M-Cult, in collaboration with the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland

Oct – Nov 2026

Part of arebyte's 2026–2028 programme, REBOOT: Recoding Reality

arebyte Digital Art Centre in London and M-Cult, Art and Media Culture Agency in Helsinki, in collaboration with the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, are delighted to present an international exchange programme bringing together the intersecting fields of art, media and technology.

The initiative highlights socially and politically focused artistic practices that connect local communities to global concerns. It draws on arebyte’s 2026–2028 programme theme, REBOOT: Recoding Reality, and on the partner organisations’ shared interest in social, technological and ecological regeneration.

The residency aims to reimagine more equitable worlds where people have agency over technology and connect with and care for their environments. It opens questions such as: How can people reorganise into more sustainable ways of living? What can humans learn from alternative ways of existing? How can individuals achieve technological agency?

The programme hosts one artist at arebyte in London and one at M-Cult in Helsinki, with each residency resonating with the other and ending in a public presentation.

GABRIELLA PRESNAL—arebyte, London (October 2026)

During their month-long residency at arebyte, Presnal documents the city’s architecture, material culture and everyday life through photogrammetry. The residency is conceived as a framework for exchange as much as a space for production. It combines public programming, peer learning and mentorship to support the artist’s research, open it to new audiences and connect them with London’s art and technology community. On 27 October, Presnal leads a workshop with a group of students from London’s art universities, guiding them through arebyte’s local neighbourhood and sharing photogrammetry techniques. Drawing on Situationist psychogeography, the session considers the ways we inhabit and occupy public space, and how agency is performed within the city. Throughout their time in London, Presnal is supported by Pita Arreola, arebyte’s Head of Programmes and Jussi Koitela, M-Cult’s Director, with additional guidance from guest mentors Sam Mercer, Curator of Digital at The Photographers’ Gallery and London-based Artist and Digital Producer, Tanya Boyarkina. The residency culminates in a public talk on Thursday 29 October.

CHIPO MAPONDERA—M-Cult, Helsinki (November 2026)

At M-Cult, Mapondera continues developing KUCHEMA, a multi-country artistic research project exploring Indigenous water knowledge and alternative AI design. The residency offers an opportunity to learn from Sámi culture and consider how Indigenous knowledge systems can inform more relational climate and technological futures.

Gabriella Presnal and Chipo Mapondera were selected by a jury comprising Jussi Koitela, Director, M-Cult; Pita Arreola, Head of Programmes, arebyte Digital Art Centre; and Sara Kärpänen, Arts and Society Programme Director, Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland.

Founded in 2000, M-Cult Art & Media Culture Agency develops and presents art and media culture, with a focus on the social and political dimensions of media and technology. We connect artists and local communities to global concerns, operating through art commissions, residencies and learning programmes. The residency project is part of Finnish Media Art Networks, an international development project carried out together with AV-arkki and the Finnish Light Art Society FLASH and funded by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency.

The Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland supports the internationalisation of Finnish and Finland-based artists, researchers and social actors. As the leading expert on Finnish culture and society, the Institute enables societal change through art and culture, empowering diverse perspectives and fostering a more inclusive cultural landscape for all. Founded in 1991, the Institute is a non-profit, private foundation funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

ARTISTS BIO

Gabriella Presnal (b. 2001) is a Finnish-American multidisciplinary artist based in Southern Finland, working across sculpture, painting, moving image, hand-drawn animation and biomaterials. Their work is rooted in an ongoing enquiry into how they move through memory, culture and spatiality. Their practice often involves working with communities, including queer international youth in Southern Finland, on projects around sustainability and nonhuman actors, precarity in the arts and imagining utopias.