In December 2017, the research collective invited Erika Balsom (King’s College London) and Ramon Lobato (RMIT University) to the spa town of Bad Homburg in order to partake in a scholarly bivouac of sorts.

Shortly after its opening workshop, the research collective started working on the question of how particular theoretical frameworks could be developed, which would fit its vision of an interdisciplinary approach.

With the opening workshop taking place in both the Eisenhower Room - the former conference room of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces - and the Deutsches Filminstitut, the research collective positioned itself as a de-centered, multifocal research group right from the get-go.