Draft:Anne Marie Maes

Anne Marie Maes (1955, Leuven) is a visual artist working in Brussels and Barcelona. For the last three decades she has been recognised as a leading pioneer in art-science projects in Belgium. Her projects combine art and ecology with a strong interest for DIY technology. Long-term projects are Connected OpenGreens (on the Politics of Green Spaces), Bee Agency (returning autonomy to honey bee colonies) , and Sensorial Skins (experiments with bacteria and organic matter).

Work and career
Maes holds an MA in fine arts from the Luca School of Art Brussels and an MA in cultural studies from the Free University of Brussels (VUB). Over the past three decades, she has been recognised in Belgium as a leading pioneer in art-science projects. Her art practice focuses on co-evolutions within urban ecosystems. She strives to uncover hidden structures and processes in nature by constructing her own technological means, seeking new forms of communication with the natural world. Her work is an investigation of living systems, natural networks and dynamic ecosystems. She applies concepts from biotechnology and materials science to combine living and inanimate matter and she translates this into installations and sculptures that feature their own behaviour, metabolism and agency.

For her project Intelligent Guerrilla Beehive, she received an honourable mention in the Hybrid Art category at Ars Electronica. .

Maes has a history of artist residencies at prominent research centers and art institutions as the Hybrid Forms Lab (VU Amsterdam), the Open Biolab (Erasmus Brussels), the BioHackLab (Barcelona) and Fab Textiles (IAAC Barcelona). Maes is also  the founder of the artist-run organisations and collectives LookingGlass, OKNO and BUBL (Brussels Urban Bee Lab).

Maes’ work is frequently shown in various European countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Norway, etc.) as well as in the US (New York) Syria, India and Brazil.

Solo exhibitions

 * 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 Brussels, PILAR art center, Brussels BE (2021)
 * Changing ecologies and changing narratives, Oortreders, Pelt, Limburg BE (2020)
 * The Intelligent Beehive, IKOB X Meakusma, Ikob Museum of Contemporary Art , Eupen, BE (2020)
 * Elbe Bienen - Hamburgmaschine, art in public space, Hamburg DE (2019)
 * Alien Intelligence, Le 46 DIGITAL, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris FR (2019)
 * Datami, Milan Design Week, Milan, IT (2019)
 * PIKSEL 2018, Bergen, NO (2018)
 * GreyArea, Siva Zona Gallery, Korcula, HR (2017)
 * Sensorial Skin, Sonicville Gallery, Brussels BE (2016)
 * All Objects may be both Green and Small, Leda Gallery, Brussels BE (2016)
 * Bee Monitoring Devices and Curious Observations, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Barcelona ES (2015)

Group exhibitions

 * Wild Renaissance, Galerie Jousse, Paris FR (2023)
 * Second Nature, 10N Menorca, Menorca ES (2023)
 * Let’s Fill this Town with Artists, AHWNN Gallery, Ostend BE (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. Galerie Emergent, Veurne BE (2021)
 * STARTS Residencies 2020, Le Centquatre, Paris (2020)
 * Brussels in Songeun: Imagining cities beyond technology 2.0, Seoul KR (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)
 * Resonances II - Museum for Science and Technology, Milano IT (2017)
 * Tendencies, Bozar, Brussel BE (2017)
 * Ecovention, Museum De Domeinen, Sittard NL (2017)
 * Artes at Ijcai, Borges Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2015)
 * Fields, RICX, Riga LV (2014)

Selected public collections

 * 'Pantone Alsace' in the Collection of the Flemish Community (BE). The management of this collection has been entrusted by the Flemish Government to the Department of Culture.
 * 'Microbial Ancestors' in the collection of [N.A!] Project (FR). This collection was founded in 2011 by Solinest CEO Bertrand Jacoberger. The fund supports a selection of contemporary European artists with projects related to the environment.
 * 'The Scaffolded Sound Beehive' in 'Klankenbos', a unique collection of sound installations in Neerpelt (BE).
 * 'Elbe Bees': a Commission for Art in Public Space. The Hamburg Machine project opens new paths for urban art in Hamburg (DE).
 * 'Pollinators, Alien Intelligence': in the Media Art Collection of the Stichting Liedts-Meesen (Ghent, BE). This collection focuses on technological art
 * 'Closed Circuits #2' : Commissioned Art in Public Space for the government building 'Boudewijngebouw') in Brussels (BE).