My interest lies in perception and communication by experimenting within the field of Semiotics. On this artistic journey, I revolve around the question: When does a visual information perceives meaning and why?
Ivo Zibulla is working on a semiotic archaeology of digital imagery.
Taking early video games, pixel graphics, interfaces and everyday digital symbols as his starting point, his artistic practice explores how meaning is formed, shifts and becomes inscribed over time within technical images.
Familiar digital symbols and structures — pixels, game objects, grids, interfaces or simple graphic codes — are detached from their original context and rendered legible as cultural and emotional repositories. He is less interested in nostalgia than in the question of how digital signs shape perception and what forms of memory, orientation and projection they generate.
Shaped by experiences of social upheaval and early digital socialisation, Zibulla combines personal memory with collective media history. His works move between painting, object and installation, blending influences from early computer graphics, pop culture, Op Art and post-digital materiality into a distinctive visual language.
In the course of his work, the focus increasingly shifts from individual symbolic motifs towards more open spatial and material contexts. Pictorial spaces, found objects and fragmented structures appear as relics of a digital culture in which signs serve as repositories and resonant spaces of cultural significance.
In Zibulla’s view, the digital realm is a cultural layer of the present day — another system of signs, memories, and modes of perception within which social meanings are constantly being reorganised.
milestones
2023 – starting regular Butoh practice
2019 – Masters degree in Wuqigong by Master Chen, Miaoli (Taiwan)
2012-17 – extensive travels South and South-East Asia
2008 – co-founder of design studio ungestalt, Leipzig
2007– University of Applied Sciences Leipzig, Diploma in Publishing & Printing Engineering
2001 – 2012 professional drummer
performance
2025 – Versuch einen Drachen zu gebären III, Volkspark, Leipzig (D)
2024 – Ich bin, was du willst, Rubikon, Leipzig (D)
2024 – Ich präsentatiere; Nichts., Rubikon, Leipzig (D)
2024 – Versuch einen Drachen zu gebären II, Rubikon, Leipzig (D)
2024 – Heitere Wolkenstudie, Rubikon, Leipzig (D)
2023 – Versuch, einen Drachen zu gebären, Phillipus, Leipzig (D)
shows, fairs
2025 – Geflecht, Werkschauhalle, Leipzig
2025 – Einblicke, Hier+Jetzt, Leipzig (Solo)
2024 – Analysis of Anger, Werkschauhalle, Leipzig
2023 – Insel, Wirkbau, Chemnitz
2023 – Kunst/Mitte, Magdeburg
2023 – Duality of the Whole, Medina Art Gallery, Rome (Italy)
2022 – Digital exhibition Brain cake, La Pedrera, Barcelona (Spain)
2022 – ADRENOCROMO for dinner, Fuerteventura (Spain)
2022 – Leberwurstlila/Klebebandgelb, URBN Jungle, Leipzig
2022 – Unfolding Stories, Fondazione Luciana Matalon, Milan (Italy)
2022 – Consciousness (Rituals), Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Venice (Italy)
2022 – Plasticity, Galeria Azur, Madrid (Spain)
2021 – A glipse of digital nature, Zwischenfisch gallery, Leipzig (Solo)
2019 – pixelethics, LOFFT, Leipzig (Solo)
2019 – Retrographics, Gamescom, Köln
2019 – Feminist Pixel Pioneers, Akko Hummus Bar, Leipzig (Solo)
2018 – Chaos Computer Club, Designers Open 2018, Leipzig
2018 – pixelethics, Lindenow Kunstfestival, Leipzig
2018 – Art Cologne, Cologne
2017 – Affordable Art Fair, Hamburg
2017 – Nacht der Kunst, Leipzig
2013 – Pac Man Mania, Tapetenwerk, Leipzig
collabs, festivals
2025 – Gemeinsam Beflügeln, Chemnitz, with Lucian Patermann (D)
2023 – Voices of the deep, with Juli Zöllner, Willy Frederking, Leipzig (D)
2023 – Leuchte mal hier her, Phillipus, Leipzig, with Ronny Valdorf, Lucian Patermann (D)
2022 – Rubug Urban Art Festival, Gelsenkirchen (D)
2021 – Ancient Trance Festival, Landart Project, Taucha (D)
2020 – g.flow Laptop Stand Art Edition, with grapelab (South Korea)
2019 – Ancient Trance Festival, Landart Project, Taucha (D)
2018 – Darkroom, Delet(h)e, Galerie Hier + Jetzt, Leipzig (D)
2017 – Klang(t)raum, Gotteskinderzimmer, Galerie Hier + Jetzt, Leipzig (D)
2016 – Herzenswege, Galerie Hier + Jetzt, Leipzig (D)
2016 – Cat God Parking Lot, Wuwu Gallery, Tainan City, Taiwan, with CC Lin (Taiwan),
2015 – Teestube, Ibug 2015, Alte Schlosserei, Plauen, Germany, with AIM (D)
2014 – Näherin, Ibug 2014, Alte Farbenfabrik, Crimmitschau, with AIM (D)
residencies
2016 – Art House, Tainan City, Taiwan