The Red Thread project was launched in 2009 by Depo, Istanbul and was conceived as an active network and platform for the exchange of knowledge and cooperation between artists, curators, social scientists, theorists and cultural workers from the Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa and beyond. Its goal is to create and widely disseminate new knowledge about paradigmatic socially engaged artistic practices in a wider geopolitical context, thus challenging the predominance of Western narratives in official art histories and exhibitions.