Zoë Bell

Zoë Bell is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of ecological data, generative systems, and immersive installation. Her practice explores how digital technologies can help us sense, interpret, and collaborate with the non-human world, often using real-time data from plants and soil environments as active inputs in her work.

Zoë’s previous projects include Sound of the Underground (Best Awards Gold, 2025), which transformed recorded soil acoustics from Waitangi Park into a surround sound installation with 260-degree projection, inviting audiences into a sensory relationship with the underground world. As well as Kei Te Noho Me Ngā Rākau (Best Awards Bronze, 2023), an earlier exploration of visual meditations on kawakawa. Her work has also featured at Performance Arcade 2025 and Lōemis Festival, where she has developed generative visual systems responsive to live musicians.

Across her work, Zoë is driven by a curiosity for non-human systems and how art can act as a conduit for sensing the unseen. She brings her creative explorations of soil ecoacoustics (an emerging field of study that offers promising tools for monitoring underground biodiversity through sound) to a workshop at Underground Festival in 2026 and invites you to collaborate with the soil on site at Greystone Wines to light up the festival at night.

Follow Zoë's creative work on Instagram @bugs_generative_art.