Draft:Anne Marie Maes

Anne Marie Maes (°1955, Leuven) is a Belgian artist, based in Brussels, who works at the forefront of art-science. At the basis of her current work lies a fascination for how Nature creates form which she tends to explore in long-term projects. In all of her artistic activity, which started end of the 1990s, research and the collaboration or collective working with various international artists, scientists and engineers, is of utmost importance. Her work is shown worldwide and has entered numerous collections.

Education

Maes started with a bachelor graphic design (1974-77) and later a master of fine arts at Luca School of Arts Brussels (1998–2000). To this she added a master in cultural studies at the Free University Brussels (VUB, 2001-02) and a master cultural anthropology, documentary film, sound image culture (SIC, 2008-09). To complete her education she also became a certified herbalist at the European Academy Antwerp (2012-13).

Career

Earlier work

From early on Anne Marie Maes has worked in collaborative ways. Starting as an independent artist in 1997, she created that same year the project space LookingGlass in Brussels with which she organised various art projects (1997–2004). Her Pix & Motion film production company was active from 1986-2004. This was followed in 2005 by the founding of the artist collective and platform for art and technology OKNO (active until 2016) that was specifically focussed on digital media and ecology. As a platform for artist collectives, it supported research and networks for MxHz, development and knowledge transmission for Code31 as well as production and presentation for SO-ON.

Current work

As a multidisciplinary artist with a background in anthropology and botany, the current practice of Maes combines art and science. In this she explores the symbiotic relationship between the human and non-human in nature and (bio)technology. Particularly interested in ecosystems and alchemical processes, Maes works with various biomaterials, digital media, living organisms but also performance. She develops her art through art residencies and collaborations with international science and fablabs. For this she regularly collaborates with scientists and other artists. In her practice she's very much interested in DIY technology and alternative research methods. Central to her work was her creation of a large experimental rooftop garden, Hortus Experimentalis (2008-ongoing), on top of a parking building in the centre of Brussels that functions as her personal field laboratory for her research and work on bees, plants and bacteria.

Long-term projects

The framework for her work is formed by several long-running research projects such as Connected Open Greens, Bee Agency and Laboratory for Form and Matter that are all interconnected.

The Lab as a form of workspace, library or Wunderkammer, is a place of study and artistic production, using various techniques and outcomes. These can become art projects in themselves that apart from an artistic and aesthetic quality, also have scientific and social meaning. The Transparant Beehive (2014) or the Intelligent Guerilla Beehives are not only art works, but they gather or make use of data on the bees behaviour that can be used to protect them. Sensorial Skins is a project that investigates the sculptural potential of organic material which is transformed into several formats such as fabrics (tapestries), membranes and biofilms. The sculpture L'origine du monde (2020) is one of Maes' bacterial works that poetically represent her extensive research into fermentation processes, cyanobacteria and microalgae. The Theatrum algaerium (2021-ongoing) consists of performances and installations that since 2021 operates on the border of sapiens and fauna.

Recognition

Maes has been awarded several international prizes and mentions, amongst which the Honorary Mention Hybrid Arts, Ars Electronica Linz in 2017 for her project Intelligent Guerilla Beehive.

Since 2010 her work has been shown frequently in international solo and group shows in Europe, the United States, Argentina, Brazil and India.

Her work forms part of several public collections.

Maes regularly is an artist in residence at international research centres and art institutions such as Hybrid Forms Lab (VU Amsterdam), Open Biolab Brussels, BioHackLab Barcelona, Fab Textiles (IAAC Barcelona),TexttielLab Tilburg and the Mateus Foundation.

Exhibitions

For a full overview see the artist's website.

Upcoming

Magical Realism, group show, Wiels Brussels, BE, 29 May – 28 September 2025

Solo (selection)

• Matter of Kinship, Mateus Labs Fundaçao da Casa de Mateus, Vila Real, PT (2023)
• Alchimia Nova, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse, FR (2023)
• A Bee is a Bee is a Bee. Réclamer la Terre, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR (2022)
• Theatrum Algaerium, performance, Theater Aan Zee, Ostend, BE (2021)
• Woven by nature, IMAL, Centre for Digital cultures and technology, Brussels, BE (2021)
• Sensorial Skins, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, PILAR art center, Brussels, BE (2021)
• Changing ecologies and changing narratives, Oortreders, Pelt, BE (2020)
• The Intelligent Beehive, IKOB X Meakusma, Ikob Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen, BE (2020)
• ElbBienen - Hamburgmaschine, art in public space, Hamburg, DE (2019)
• Alien Intelligence, Le 46 DIGITAL, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, FR (2019)

Group (selection)

• Hosting, Centrale for contemporary art, Brussels, BE (2024-25)
• Pollinations, Steede Hoge Woerd, NL (2024)
• The Lives of Animals, MHKA, Antwerp, BE (2024)
• Cyfest / Vulnerability, CREA - Venice Biennial, IT (2024)
• Wild Renaissance, Galerie Jousse, Paris, FR (2023)
• Second Nature, 10N Menorca, Menorca, ES (2023)
• Symbiosium, Fondation Fiminco, Paris, FR (2023)
• Edenworld, Le Bel Ordinaire, Pau, FR (2023)
• Cyfest Media festival, Hayart Center, Yerevan, AM (2022)
• Biotopia, Pavillon, Namur, BE (2022)
• Heures Sauvages, Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, Paris, FR (2022)
• Abstracte Kunst bestaat niet (Abstract art doesn't exist). Galerie Emergent, Veurne, BE (2021)
• STARTS Residencies 2020, Le Centquatre, Paris, FR (2020)
• Brussels in Songeun: Imagining cities beyond technology 2.0, Seoul, KP (2019)
• For a Brave New Brussels, MAAT (Museum of Art and Technology), Lisbon, PT (2018)
• Eco-Visionaries, HeK (Haus fur Elektronischer Kunst), Basel, CH (2018)
• Hiperorganicos - NanoLab, Universitat Federal de Rio de Janeiro, BR (2018)
• Beehave, Fundació Miró, Barcelona, ES (2018)
• Tendencies, Bozar, Brussels (2017)

Work in public collections

• Pantone Alsace (installation, 2023) in the collection of the Flemish Community as part of the Belgian national art collection. Kept at Mu.Zee, Ostend, BE.
• Microbial Ancestors (Topography of a second skin) (textile work, 2023) in the collection of the Textile Museum Tilburg, NL.
• Microbial Life (installation, 2023) in the collection of the contemporary art fund [N.A!] Project.
• ElbBienen at Entenwerder, art in public space, Hamburg (created 2019, acquired 2020)
• The Scaffolded Sound Beehive (installation, 2015) in the collection of Klankenbos, Neerpelt, BE.
• Pollinators, Alien Intelligence (2014) in the collection of media art of Foundation Liedts-Meesen, Ghent, BE.
• Closed Circuits #2 (2000) in the collection of the Flemish Community.

Publications

Maes' notable publications to date include: