ZielØ

ZielØ is a fictional transmedia project created to explore the intersection of design, technology, and society. It presents itself as a cooperative collective rather than a single author, with rotating members and collaborators drawn from art, design, engineering, and critical theory. The name blends the word “ziel” (goal) with the Scandinavian letter Ø, signaling a focus on openness, circularity, and the negation of fixed centers.

Origins: The project is described as having emerged in the early 2010s in a northern European context, evolving through gallery exhibitions, online platforms, and participatory events. It is not tied to a single location, and its base often shifts among different cities to emphasize mobility and networked production.

Practice: ZielØ works across media, including installation art, prints, essays, and software tools. It emphasizes collaborative authorship, open licenses, and process-based works that change with audience interaction. Projects are often site-specific, addressing themes such as vision politics, data sovereignty, environmental resilience, and the role of spectators in shaping meaning.

Structure and output: The project operates with a modular approach, producing artworks, publications, and digital tools that can be reinterpreted or repurposed by others. It frequently organizes exhibitions, workshops, and seminars, and maintains loose ties with academic institutions, galleries, and cultural platforms to foster dialogue around its themes.

Reception and significance: In its fictional canon, ZielØ is discussed as an example of post-digital practice that interrogates authorship, commodification, and the politics of visibility. It has a modest following among scholars of media theory and contemporary art and is cited in simulated catalogs and academic debates.