Annemie Maes
AnneMarie Maes (1955, Brussel) studied a masters in fine arts at the Sint-Lucas Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, a masters of cultural studies at the University of Brussels, and a specialisation in anthropological documentary film at the Institute for Sound Image Culture in Brussels.
She has played a major role in organising the multi-media art scene in Brussels. She founded the Pix and Motion Experimental Animation and Short Movies Film Company, the artist-run “Looking Glass” exhibition space, and more recently, the international artist collective okno, which brings together artists and art spaces from different European countries to engage in workshops and open research labs.
Her artistic work shows several interwoven threads. One line of work focuses on multi-media installations. For example, in the No2pho (from noice to voice) installation (2006-2008) spectators shape a sound scape by moving around sound sources based on literary texts. Another line takes a social and anthropological dimension. Examples are the “People Database” project (1998-2002) which collected life narratives triggered by found pictures, and the “Politics of Change” project (2007-2010) which documented the grassroots activism of women in India. Her most important current line of work focused on ecological issues, as in the on going Open-Greens project (2009-2013) which sets up laboratories of urban gardens and art works based on monitoring bee colonies (2009-2013).
AnneMarie Maes has exhibited widely in international contexts, including in various European countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, etc.) as well as the US (New York), Syria, India and Brazil.
