A Research-Led Creative Studio
for future-facing ideas
PhyXels Studio is a research-led creative practice exploring how visual archives, artificial intelligence and spatial experience can be combined to build new ways of understanding culture and environment.
We approach images as data, memory and spatial signal. Our work merges archival thinking, computational analysis and immersive design to create research systems that transform how we read images and how we shape environments.
What We Do
We develops research methods and creative systems that connect visual archives, artificial intelligence and spatial experience. Our work focuses on understanding how images function as cultural memory and how AI can reveal patterns, typologies and spatial logics within large collections. We translate these insights into immersive environments, VR galleries and spatial prototypes that demonstrate how archives can shape narrative, perception and environmental design.
Alongside this, we collaborate with universities, museums and cultural organisations to apply our frameworks in real-world contexts, from archive interpretation and AI persona systems to emerging technology workshops and research-led exhibitions. Our practice combines analytical depth with creative experimentation, offering partners a way to explore the future of images, space and cultural intelligence.
Research and Achievements
Built on long-term creative research and international collaboration, the studio draws from work led by Julius Yls together with experts across Europe, Asia and the global creative-tech community. Our projects integrate visual culture, AI systems, spatial perception, creative-technology education and immersive media. This networked, interdisciplinary foundation shapes the studio’s methodology and supports an ongoing exploration of how images, memory and environment behave as dynamic systems across both physical and virtual space.
ACM ISWC 2025, International Symposium on Wearable Computers
October 12-16, 2025. Aalto University, Finland. ACM Conference Series
Yls, J. & Yeoh, K. C. (2025). Relational AI Personas in Everyday Ubiquity: Embodied & Situated Design Methods for Sustainable, Plural Futures.
RAM-T 2024, 9th International Workshop on Researching Art Markets
23-24 October 2024. School of Culture & Creative Arts, University of Glasgow, UK
Yls, J. & Valentino, S. (2024). Navigating the Digital Shift: The Future of Art Markets in the Era of Virtual Events.
6th International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Education (WAIE 2024)
29-30 September 2024. Tokyo, Japan
5th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education Technology (AIET 2024)
29-31 July 2024. University of Barcelona, Spain
Yls, J. & Lin, V. H. (2024). Integrating Krashen’s Theories with Emerging Technologies in ESL Learning: A Pathway to Innovation.
Objects in Air: Artworks and Their Outside around 1900, University of Chicago Press
Christian, M. I. (2023). University of Chicago Press.
Photographic case studies from Interesting Moment contributed by Julius Yls.
Founder and Research Lead
Led by Julius Yls, the studio draws on his experience as a creative technologist and researcher working at the intersection of visual archives, AI systems and spatial experience. Julius brings two decades of practice across academia, art-design and emerging technologies, shaping the studio’s research direction and methodological development. His work spans monochrome visual archives, AI-driven persona systems, immersive environments and creative-technology education.
The studio also works with a flexible network of technologists, designers and researchers on a project basis, allowing it to scale expertise while staying focused on research-led practice. This collaborative structure supports the development of specialised tools such as the Living Archive Framework, Muse-5 Personas and immersive spatial prototypes that inform ongoing projects.
Collaborate With Us
We collaborate with partners who are exploring the future of visual archives, AI interpretation and spatial experience. Universities, museums, cultural organisations, research labs and design-driven institutions work with us to integrate emerging technologies into their creative and research practices. Our experience supports projects involving archive analysis, AI-driven interpretation, immersive spatial design, digital culture research and creative-technology education.
We offer research partnerships, commissioned studies, workshops, prototype development and consultancy for organisations interested in new ways of understanding images, memory and experience. To discuss collaborations or project opportunities, please contact us: hola [at] phyxels.gallery.
Current Project: 13Collections
13Collections is our long-term visual archive and the foundation of the studio’s research. Built over a decade across Asia, Europe and the Americas, the project investigates how monochrome imagery, spatial composition and cultural heuristics behave under AI analysis. Through clustering, typologies and placement studies we treat the archive as a living research system.
Find out more about 13Collections