Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Beijing, Khartoum, Lahore, Tokyo: all over the world, artists joined forces in collectives throughout the twentieth century. While the tendency to form groups was (and still is) universal, the concerns of their members, their aesthetic methodologies, political goals, and utopian aspirations differed fundamentally depending on time and place. The period from about 1900 to 1980 covered here coincides with the beginning of diverse international modernization movements and finally includes decolonization processes and the founding of new nations. These events were often accompanied by the establishment of art schools and collectives as well as the publication of programmatic texts and journals.

The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation in conjunction with its Museum Global initiative. The catalogue accompanying the first part of the exhibition, Group Dynamics - The Blue Rider, also published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, is already available. It offers a comprehensive survey of works and new insights into the circle of artists who made up Der Blaue Reiter.