Kilometer Zero is a collective of international artists and writers that produces magazines, theatre, and artistic performances. It was founded in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France at the Shakespeare and Company

Shakespeare and Company

Shakespeare and Company or Shakespeare & Company may refer to:*Shakespeare and Company , an English-language bookshop in Paris, France; hosts the annual Shakespeare & Company Literary Festival in June....

 bookstore in the year 2000. The group operates as an association under the French laws of 1901. The name derives from 'Kilometre Zero

Kilometre Zero

In many countries, Kilometre Zero or similar terms in other languages, is a particular location , from which distances are traditionally measured...

', the point in front of Notre Dame

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...

 cathedral.

The Kilometer Zero magazine was created as an advertising free creative and political platform. Contributors have included Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...

, Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

, Dennis Cooper

Dennis Cooper

Dennis Cooper is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist.-Career:Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Arcadia, California. His first forays into literature came early, focusing on imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, de Sade, and Baudelaire...

, Tom Tomorrow

Tom Tomorrow

Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins. His weekly comic strip This Modern World, which comments on current events, appears regularly in over 90 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada as of 2006, as well as on CREDO Action and Daily Kos, where he is its comics curator...

, Daniel Stedman

Daniel Stedman

' is a multi-award-winning film director, producer, writer, and owner and current president of The L Magazine , Brooklyn Magazine, and the Northside Festival.-Background:Stedman received a degree in physics from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine...

, CD Wright, and Sparkle Hayter

Sparkle Hayter

Sparkle Hayter is a Canadian journalist and author.Hayter was born in Pouce Coupe, British Columbia, Canada and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1986, she graduated in film and television production from New York University. Among other things, she worked for CNN in Atlanta, WABC in New York and...

. Kilometer Zero has produced performances in Paris, London, Brooklyn, Amsterdam, Marseille, and Beijing.

The founding of Kilometer Zero is documented in Jeremy Mercer

Jeremy Mercer

Jeremy Mercer is an author and journalist whose books include Time Was Soft There and When the Guillotine Fell . He has also translated Robert Badinter's Abolition into English for University Press of New England...

's novel Time Was Soft There, published in 2005 by St. Martin's Press

St. Martin's Press

St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...

.

Notable Kilometer Zero projects

• The Robin Hood Project
  Robin Hood Project
  The Robin Hood Project is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation, dedicated to improving the education of children in the Peruvian town of Mancora.-History:...
  
  (Summer 2002): A product placement sting where major designer labels were duped into donating their goods to French charities
• Lysistrata (March 2003): Kilometer Zero produced an adaption of Lysistrata
  Lysistrata
  Lysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War...
  
   as part of an anti-war statement made by theaters around the world
• Pssst... America! (October 2004): A seven city political barnstorming tour emphasizing social inequity in America in advance of the 2004 presidential elections
• The Short Step (May 2005): (pictured) Kilometer Zero opened the Dashanzi International Arts Festival in Beijing
  Beijing
  Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
  
  by grouping together 400 westerners dressed in traditional Chinese factory uniforms. The performance was interrupted by Chinese officials.