Zoöp Connections - New Networks for the Living

Zoöp Connections is designed to spark regenerative relationships and integrate more-than-human voices into our awareness with the larger goal of taking climate action.

Biodiversity loss, soil degradation and societal polarization on environmental issues in the Netherlands show us that ecosystems of all kinds are degrading, with some on the point of collapsing. Climate action and innovative ecological governance are needed at scale to regenerate these systems. Propelled by this purpose, Zoöp Connections creates opportunities for European practitioners—artists, ecologists, architects, anthropologists, designers, and community organizers—to engage with five pioneering cultural organisations in the Netherlands. Through the Zoöp model, participants will explore how principles of ecological regeneration and co-governance with non-human entities can show cultural organisations’ role in this larger transformation.

Initiated by EUNIC Netherlands and coordinated by DutchCulture and Nieuwe Instituut in collaboration with the Zoönomic Institute, five EUNIC members (European cultural institutions) will invite a creative climate professional to the Netherlands to stay for at least a week of focused exchange at a local Zoöp-partner, all of which are Dutch cultural organisations committed to ecological and social regeneration. These are the duos:

Zoöp Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen and British Council Netherlands
Zoöp Stichting Bodemzicht/'t Gagel and Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond,
Zoöp De Ceuvel and Goethe-Institut Niederlande
Zoop Creative Coding Utrecht Instituto Cervantes Utrecht
and Zoop Nieuwe Instituut and Institut français NL

The word Zoöp is short for Zoöperation, cooperation with zoë the Greek word for life, ζωή, It is an organisation form and learning process that incorporates non-human perspectives into decision-making, advancing regenerative practice. The Dutch Zoöp-model was developed at Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, the first Zoöp in the world, and set up the Zoönomic Institut to grow the Zoöp network. Any organisation with an intrinsic motivation to contribute to the health of the ecosystems they are part of, can become a Zoöp and learn how to contribute to the well-being of their multispecies communities.

The residencies, hosted between April and September 2025, will serve as spaces for reflection, experimentation, and knowledge exchange. Visiting practitioners will work closely with the hosting Zoöp sites, learning from local initiatives and contributing to ecological projects. Each residency will culminate with participants sharing their findings and proposing innovative solutions to environmental challenges. Artistic public programmes about the project will take place in the fall, with de Brakke Grond and Nieuwe Instituut as important sites for discussions.

The focus is on establishing new and regenerative relationships. In designing the exchange, and in the selection of participants, we reflect a commitment to long-term connections.

Zoöp Connections is an initiative of EUNIC Netherlands and is coordinated by DutchCulture and Nieuwe Instituut in collaboration with Zoönomic Institute.

The residencies will be organised by the following duo's, each pairing a Zoöp with a Cluster member of EUNIC Netherlands: Zoöp Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen and British Council Netherlands, Zoöp Stichting Bodemzicht/'t Gagel and Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Zoop De Ceuvel and Goethe-Institut Niederlande , Zoop Creative Coding Utrecht and Instituto Cervantes Utrecht, an Zoop Nieuwe Instituut and Institut français NL.

This project is supported by the EUNIC Global Cluster Fund.