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Christoph Miler

Christoph Miler

Christoph Miler

Research Associate

Fields of research

Environmental Humanities

Political Ecology

Artistic Research

Writing & Publishing

Design

Education

Master of Arts ZFH (2012–2013)
Specialization in Editorial Design 
Zurich University of the Arts
Zurich, Switzerland

Bachelor of Arts and Design (2008–2011)
Programm Intermedia 
University of Applied Sciences
Vorarlberg, Austria

Bachelor Visual Communications (2010, exchange sem.)
University of Technology Sydney
Sydney, Australia

Professional Career

Christoph Miler is a writer, researcher and designer,  as well as one half of Offshore, the design studio he founded with Isabel Seiffert. In his work, he explores the power structures and imaginaries within the fields of globalization, migration and ecology by interweaving multiple modes of knowledge production and artistic expression. His multi-layered practice incorporates editorial design and publishing, as well as artistic research, image-making and writing. Christoph’s work is disseminated through books and other editorial formats, as well as exhibitions, readings and lecture performances. Ever since the start of his carrer he is passionate about pedagogy, which is why he teaches at various European art and design schools.

Teaching Activities

Zurich University of the Arts (2021–present)
BA Visual Communication
Semester modul on Signs and Symbols

HfG Karlsruhe, Germany (2024)
Program Communication Design
Semester workshop on visual research

University of the Arts Bern (2023–2024)
Bacholor Visual Communication
Semester class on Visual Identity

University of Toronto (2022/23)
Architecture + Design program
critique and workshop in the framework of
counterhegemonic architecture and visual research

Design Academy Eindhoven (2021–2024)
Bachelor Design Program
Tutor in the BA studio Technogeographies

HfG Karlsruhe (2021)
Program Communication Design
Semester class on editoral design and visual research

Zurich University of the Arts (2020)
Master of Arts in Design
Visual Research Workshop

University of the Arts Bern (2019)
Bachelor Visual Communications
Editorial Design Workshop 

Zurich University of the Arts (2018)
Master of Arts in Design
Visual Storytelling Workshop

IDEP Barcelona, Spain (2017)
Master in Graphic Design 
Layout-Workshop

Projects

 

Unruly Natures (2020–present)
Unruly Natures” is an ongoing multi-year collaborative international research project and network in the Environmental Humanities. The aim is to study socio-natural subjectivities, promote transdisciplinary conversations, and organize innovative ecopolitical initiatives.

Managing the Wild & The Myth of Memory (2020–present)
The long-term project Managing the Wild investigates the return of wolves to Western European landscapes through artistic research. In multiple chapters, Offshore (Isabel Seiffert & Christoph Miler) explore the techno-scientific, political, social and mythological ramifications that are triggered by the renewed presence of the predator.

Visible upon Breakdown (2019–2024)
The publication Visible upon Breakdown examines the cultural, political and spatial dimensions of infrastructure in a transdisciplinary discussion between photography, social sciences and architecture. The focus is on the relationship between the material elements of railroad networks, water supply and communication systems on the one hand, and their inherent political and social meanings on the other. Published by Spector Books.

Migrant Journal (2016–2019)

The six-issue publication series Migrant Journal explores the circulation of people, goods, information, fauna and flora around the world and the transformative impact they have on space.

Nowhere Men (2012–2015)
The publication Nowhere Men synthesizes six biographies of irregular migrants and interweaves their lives with a network of global relationships and power structures. From Mumbai's slums to Iraq's oil fields, from the offices of multinational cooperations and powerful politicians to Disneyland, subsea internet cables, airport strikes, super markets, the coast guards of Lampedusa and Swiss election campaigns. Nowhere Men explores the consequences of a globalized world and investigates the relationship between the journeys of irregular migrants and the rest of the world. Published by luftschacht Verlag.

 

Awards

Fellowships and Grants

  • Pro Helvetia production grant for the publication Visible upon Breakdown, published by Spector Books (2023/24)
  • La Beque, Artist Residency, La Tour de Peilz, Switzerland (2022)
  • Jan van Eyck Akademy, Artist Residency, Maastricht, Netherlands (2021–2022)
  • Rencontres D’Arles: Curatorial Research Fellowship, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France (2019–2020)
  • Research Fellowship, Federal Chancellery Austria (2017)
  • Fabrica fellowship at Colors Magazine, Treviso, Italy (2013–2014)


Awards and Nominations

  • DAM Architectural Book Award for the publication Researching Otherwise, from the German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt, Germany (2024)
  • Swiss Design Awards, Swiss Federal Office of Culture (2022)
  • Most Beautiful German Books, Stiftung Buchkunst (2022)
  • Swiss Design Awards, Swiss Federal Office of Culture (2020, no prizes awarded because of Covid)
  • Joseph Binder Award, Henry Steiner Prize, Austria (2020)
  • TDC Tokyo, Work of Excellence in Editorial/Book Design, Japan (2020)
  • Willy Fleckhaus Preis, Art Directors Club, Hamburg, Germany (2019)
  • 100 best posters 18, Germany (2019)
  • Stack Awards, Nominee Best Magazine of, the Year, London, UK (2019)
  • Beazley Designs of the Year Nominee, London, UK (2018)
  • 100 best posters 17, Germany (2018)
  • INFORM Preis, Nomination by Markus, Dressen, Leipzig, Germany (2018)
  • 28th Int. Biennial of Graphic Design Brno, Shortlist Brno, Czech Republic (2018)
  • Swiss Design Awards, Nominee, Swiss Federal Office of Culture (2017)
  • TDC Tokyo, Work of Excellence in Editorial/Book Design, Japan (2017)
  • Stack Awards, Nominee Art-Directors of the Year, London, UK (2017)
  • State Prize Design Austria for the book project Nowhere Men (2016)
  • Graphic Design Festival Scotland Shortlist, Glasgow (2016)
Talks
  • Publishing Ecologies, at Softcover, Vienna (2025)
  • Lecture Performance: Visible Upon Breakdown, at Zurich International, Switzerland (2024)
  • AGI Lecture: In Pursuit of Images, Basel, Switzerland (2024)
  • Design Ecologies: Dancing in the Dark, ZHdK, Zurich (2024)
  • University of Arts & Design, Basel, Geisterfahrt ins Paradies (2024)
  • Bauhaus Dessau: The Bauhaus Atlas, Online-Lecture (2023)
  • Offshore: A practice, at Weissraum, Innsbruck, Austria (2022)
  • London College of Communication, Bachelor Graphic and Media Design, London, UK (2022)
  • HfG Karlsruhe, Kohlswat Karlsruhe, Germany (2021)
  • Pratt Institute, Bachelor Graphic Design, New York City, USA (2021)
  • Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany (2021)
  • Centre Culturelle Suisse Paris, France (2020)
  • FUBU, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland (2019)
  • Graphic Days Torino Turin, Italy (2019)
  • Positions Conference On Graphic Design And Visual Culture Leipzig, Germany (2019)
  • HSLU Luzern, Department Camera Arts Luzern, Switzerland (2019)
  • Point of no Return: Point of Departure, Symposium, HFBK Hamburg, Germany (2019)
  • Nicer Tuesdays, Migrant Journal, London, UK (2018)
  • Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, USA (2018)
  • Libros Mutantes Madrid, Spain (2018)
  • It’s a Book, Leipzig, Germany (2018)
  • Weißensee Kunsthochschule, Berlin, Germany (2017)
  • Spui25, Migrant Journal, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2017)
  • IDEP, Barcelona Vortrag und Workshop Barcelona, Spain (2017)
  • University of the Arts Bern, Master of Arts in Design, Alpenhof, Appenzell, Switzerland (2016)
Additional Information

Selected writing, editing and publishing:

  • Shared Habitats (co-editor), a hybrid publishing project on urban ecologies (2025)
  • Forest Gump Variations (essay), in: Diploma Cataloge of the BA Visual Communications, Zurich University of the Arts (2024)
  • Visible upon Breakdown (co-editor and author), published by Spector Books (2024)
  • Hidden Joints, the Making of Migrant Journal (essay), in: Umbau Journal HfG Karlsruhe (2024)
  • Stray shots (essay), in: Avery Review (2023)
  • Error-free writing, at leasg most of the timr (essay), in: MacGuffin Nr.13 (The Letter, 2023)
  • Intertwingled pedagogies: A note to the monolith (essay); in: Bauhaus paperbacks: Decolonising Design Education (2023)
  • Wolf Tracks (poem); in: The Vendor, Onomatopee (2022)
  • Taming the Taxonomy (essay), in: Garden Futures, Vitra Design Museum (2022)
  • Animal Big Brother (essay); in: Trigger Magazine (Issue Nr.3, Care) and Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie (2022)
  • Deep Red (Short story), published by Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung (2021)
  • Graphic Design as a Narrative Tool (essay), in: Graphic Design is not innocent, Valiz (2021)
  • Botox: Blow-Ups for biological warfare (essay), in: Elements, Jan van Eyck Academy (2021)
  • Migrant Journal, Issue 1–6    (co-editor and author, 2016–2019)
  • Nowhere Men (collected stories), published by luftschacht (2015)
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