Group Dynamics: Collectives of the Modernist Period

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.