In the first, the works explored the process by which war and geo-politics have divided the earth into nation states, whose stability is increasingly at risk through war and oppression of ethnic minorities. Historic anniversaries of partitions and the often-violent birth of nations remind us of their fragility.

In the second gallery, artists engaged with ideas of nation, not through lines and borders, but through the idea of 'imagined communities' put forward by political scientist Benedict Anderson, focusing on our shared stories, histories and cultural narratives. These works explored how this idea is under threat from digital technologies, unchecked capitalism and rising ethno-nationalism, and consider the resilience we find in hopeful acts of everyday living.

The remaining two galleries brought these separate but overlapping ideas of collective identity together in large-scale, immersive works. Over the course of the exhibition, these two galleries changed to present works that were being shown in Coventry – and some in the UK – for the first time.