AnneMarie Maes (or Annemie Maes) – Brussels, 1955 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.

In 2004 AnneMarie Maes co-founded the artist collective OKNO which has been active on the border between new media and ecology. OKNO uses DIY and collective artist practices to find new ways to engage with the urban environment. In 2009 she founded the Brussels Urban Bee Lab [BUBL] as a spin-off from OKNO. It focuses on urban bee colonies as a vehicle for novel artistic practices to raise ecological awareness.

Maes has for decades been a recognized leader pioneering art-science projects in Belgium, using highly original ways to bring out hidden structures in nature by constructing original technological methods to probe the living world and by translating that in artistic creations through sonification, visualization, sculptures, large-scale long-term installations, and workshops. She thus makes use of technological mediation to search for new forms of communication with the natural world.

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. The installations explore highly experimental technologies, such as microbial fuel cells, digital and organic fabrication using OpenStructures, biomimicry, spatialised sonification, web-based continuous data streaming, data mining based on Artificial Intelligence, organic electronics, solar energy for powering low-energy computing, etc.
The group collaborates with universities and other artistic research centers throughout Europe.

Website

Camilla Colombo is a curator and producer whose practice focuses on arts and sciences.

She curated exhibitions in collaboration with the Museum of Ixelles, at BOZAR, PILAR and iMal in Brussels, and she collaborated with z33 (Hasselt) and Atelier LUMA in Arles.

With a background in the performing arts and in advocacy for the arts at the European level, Camilla worked in Italy, the UK, and Belgium. Interested in hybridisation and crossing of disciplines, she served in art organisations of all sizes as well as with independent artists, focusing on multidisciplinary and multimedia productions.

Since 2016 she is based in Brussels where she began merging her multilayered experiences in her curatorial practice.

She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Ohme, an organisation curating and producing through collaborative practices at the nexus of arts and sciences. She also initiated Culture Solutions, an independent non-for-profit, bottom-up social innovation group contributing to the excellence of EU international cultural relations policies.

In 2019 she co-founded SALOON Brussels, network for women working in the art scene of the Belgian capital.

Aside from her curatorial practice, Camilla regularly organises and moderate panel talks usually gathering artists, scientists, researchers and civil society.

Website Camilla
Website Ohme