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Maxlab

Maxlab evolves into Intermatter

Founded in 2015, Maxlab has made an indispensable contribution to the Academy’s nervous system. Warm thanks go to Janna Beck for her tireless dedication and for initiating numerous research projects. After a decade of interdisciplinary experimentation in the rapidly evolving field of digital technologies and their interaction with the arts, a reflection on the group’s future became necessary. Maxlab’s legacy, shaped by Janna Beck and Kristof Timmerman, formed a strong foundation for a renewed vision. In 2026, the group was renamed Intermatter.

The archive of Maxlab remains accessible on this page.

Go to the Intermatter research group


The research platform Maxlab focusses on the interaction between digital technologies, art, and society with a twofold objective.

On the one hand, we deal with the artist’s expanding digital toolkit through our research projects, workshops, and educational programs. With an emphasis on experimentation, we envision the digital through artistic methodologies, thereby catalyzing innovation in art practices.

On the other hand, we acknowledge the rapidly evolving landscape of digital technologies. Through our research projects, lectures, performances, publications and exhibitions, we commit to a nuanced discourse on technology’s omnipresence and its societal impact.

Maxlab aims to cultivate a comprehensive artistic ecosystem by creating environments where digital technologies are manipulated and their profound implications for both the arts and society can be critically examined. 
We provide space for both individual artists and collectives, nurturing the emergence of inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations within a broad (inter)national network. Furthermore, we advocate for the essential integration of digital literacy within the artistic curriculum of the Royal Academy, as well as within broader art education initiatives. *

*This text was written by artists with the assistance of a Large Language Model, a shared online word processor, a spell checker and several other technologies.

Focus: the interaction between digital technologies, art, and society

Contact:

Janna Beck - janna.beck@ap.be

Kristof Timmerman - kristof.timmerman@ap.be

(Photo by Olga Wroniewicz / Urban Travel Machines)

 

Research projects
View the projects here
event
Wed 19 Nov

Fake Fireside Forum: Janne Schimmel & Thijs Jaeger

An evening of engaging discussions at the intersection of art and technology, organized by Maxlab and Mixlab, with guests Janne Schimmel & Thijs Jaeger.

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event
Thu 23 Oct
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Fri 24 Oct

Beyond Binary – Non-Dual Perspectives on Art and Technology

This seminar brings together artists, thinkers, and researchers to reflect on how emerging technologies challenge binary paradigms – digital/analogue, material/immaterial, real/virtual – and how such opposites may instead be seen as deeply intertwined.

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event
Mon 28 Apr

Fake Fireside Forum: Sine Özbilge & Angelo Vermeulen

An evening of engaging discussions at the intersection of art and technology, organized by Maxlab and Mixlab, with guests Sine Özbilge and Angelo Vermeulen.

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event
Fri 18 Oct
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Sun 27 Oct

The Grid

Interactive collective installation by Maxlab researchers

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research

Towards Transdisciplinarity. Art & Technology Residencies

Intermatter strives to create a research environment where artistic researchers have the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art technology and collaborate with technological experts.

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event
Thu 09 Nov
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Thu 09 Nov

LASER TALK. Restoring the Human Element

With Frank Theys, Eva- Maria Lopez, Ronny Blust, Edith Doove, Marjolijn Dijkman, Florian Zanatta, a.o., organised by Alexandra Dementieva and Kristof Timmerman (research group MAXlab).

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event
Thu 05 May
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Thu 05 May

The garden of Z-elements

From the physical Winter Garden you can walk around in the virtual 'Garden of Z-Elements' and catch a glimpse of the Academy garden - where at the same time the Academy Open Air exhibition is running.

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event
Thu 28 Apr

A Matter of Sound - Studio Radiaal

The collective Studio Radiaal transforms the Winter Garden into a tactile soundscape.

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event
Tue 26 Oct
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Tue 26 Oct

VAXX.ON.AIR

ARTICULATE.

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event
Thu 28 Oct
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Thu 28 Oct

Empty Mind

ARTICULATE

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article

Immersive exploration in Mozilla Hubs

The research groups Maxlab and CREATIE have set up their own digital co-creation experiments within a virtual environment. Read here the report with a series of photographs as the witness of an immersive exploration in Mozilla Hubs.

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event
Thu 22 Apr
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Thu 29 Apr

An Audiovisual Landscape

Het interdisciplinaire collectief Studio Radiaal transformeert de Wintertuin van de Academie tot een liminale totaalinstallatie. 22 - 29 April

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research

VISI.ON.AIR (Vision analysis and substantive orientation of MAXlab, translated into a TV channel)

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event
Mon 26 Oct
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Mon 26 Oct

VISI.ON.AIR. Talks and thoughts about media, art and technology

Research day by MAXlab, with Philip Meersman, Rafaël Rozendaal, Peter Westenberg, Studio Radiaal, Christophe De Jaeger, Kris Meeusen, Ine Vanoeveren, Dan Mussett, Natché and Frederik De Bleser. Part of the ARTICULATE program.

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event
Mon 26 Aug
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Fri 06 Sep

Summer school: Storytelling in virtual reality. An immersive experience.

Under the guidance of experienced coaches, participants conceive and create a VR experience using the facilities of the Immersive Lab of the AP University College.

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research

Z Elements

'Z Elements' is a strongly interdisciplinary project that will transform analogue artistic expressions into Digital Transmedia Storytelling products.

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article

Mozilla Hubs: the Lockdown Lobby

The corona crisis and different lockdowns influenced the way we create, perceive and experience art for good. Enter this virtual art world and discover it yourself.

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research

GrowingGifs 2.0

For GrowingGifs 2.0, the focus is on forms of interaction: how can the interaction between two or more draughters, between man and machine, between machine and machine, between draftsman and audience and interaction with public space be optimized?

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