The European Group was a research project focused on collaborative practice and how this is negotiated. In August 2006 a research and development trip was undertaken by Ed Orton, Niki Russell and Stuart Tait. They visited five European countries and met artists from eight different countries, whose practice involved open and varied forms of collaboration. From these meetings a grouping of ten artists was established to take the project forward.

In December 2006 these ten artists all met for the first time in Birmingham, UK, where an intense process of discussion and activity began to form the next stages of the project. This process involved: Ana Benlloch; Pelle Brage; Sabine Hagmann; Andreas Kebelmann; Sabine Maier; Michael Mastrototaro; Ed Orton; Niki Russell; Eliane Rutishauser; and Stuart Tait.

The group staged Red Line Surveillance, a project in Birmingham city centre in partnership with the Festival of Extreme Building and Next Generation Arts.

This research project was funded by Arts Council England, East Midlands