RYB Global Development
Art, culture and research for a culture of peace
RYB Global Development, also known as Red Yellow Blue (RYB), is an Amsterdam-based platform that connects citizens, NGOs and changemakers across 193 countries through research, storytelling and culture. We follow the Sustainable Development Goals and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we bring them closer to people through art and exhibitions.
RYB
What is RYB Global Development?
RYB is a global development platform that uses culture, art and the history of colour to make international development easier to understand and easier to take part in. Our work is organised around the Cosmology of Peace, which asks where peace comes from, how it is built and what its future could be. Our research methodology explains how we work.
Our central project is the exhibition Cosmology of Peace: Red Yellow Blue Silk Road, an exhibition where East meets West. It is in development and begins with our own contemporary artworks, as a meeting place for artists, researchers, city-makers and citizens.
Red, Yellow, Blue: A Shared Human Inheritance
If human DNA carries the code for life, red, yellow and blue might be called a shared code for how people build meaning. Across history, many cultures that never met reached for the same three colours to express their understanding of the world, from harmony and order to safety, identity and design.
Long before red, yellow and blue defined modern art movements, they carried meaning in ancient societies. They are found in the cosmology of ancient China and in the abstract art of Mondrian’s De Stijl. RYB follows this history and builds on it with new, original art, in an exhibition that is also about peace.
We tell this story through research and storytelling, and we link to artworks in museums and collections worldwide, from ancient carpets, pottery and manuscripts to the paintings that followed. Follow the journey on the Red Yellow Blue Silk Road page.
Sharing Humanity: What Connects Us
UNESCO’s Sharing Humanity campaign is built around what connects people across differences: quality education for all, reconciling humans with nature, science and technology in the service of humanity, and inclusive, peaceful societies built on mutual respect and understanding.
Red, yellow and blue tell a similar story through colour. Different civilisations, independently, kept reaching for the same three colours to build meaning, order and beauty. RYB sees its work as part of the same idea: following this shared colour history, building new art upon it, and showing people what already connects them.
RYB builds on the UN and UNESCO Culture of Peace programme.
What is the Cosmology of Peace?
Cosmology is the scientific and philosophical study of the origin, structure, evolution and future fate of the universe as a whole. The word comes from the Greek kosmos, meaning order, harmony and beauty. The Cosmology of Peace borrows it to ask four questions about peace. Where does it come from? How is it built, in colours, cities, calendars and budgets? How does it change? And what could its future be?
We explore these questions through three projects and through an exhibition where people can meet and talk about them. Read the full story on the Cosmology of Peace page.
Colorful geometric building structures with a blue sky background, featuring bold primary colors | photo Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz
The Red Yellow Blue Silk Road
The Silk Road linked East and West for centuries, and carried art along with silk and ideas. Our research and exhibition ask what ancient cultures had in common in their colours and symbols, and whether that shared history can help us understand a culture of peace today. Contemporary artists then continue the route with new artworks about peace.
→ Explore the Red Yellow Blue Silk Road
→ Discover the Exhibition
Creative Cities for Culture of Peace
A city is a stage where people from all over the world meet. Creative Cities for Culture of Peace is our proposal for a new theme in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, using design, art, music, literature and architecture as everyday tools for peace. We suggest Amsterdam as the first city.
Culture Women’s Days
In 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country to give women the right to vote. Culture Women’s Days turns the dates when women won the vote into a calendar of 193 days, one for each UN member state, filled with culture: art, music, stories and heritage. Where women have a voice and a place in culture, peace has a better chance. Everyone is welcome, including men and boys.
What is Global Development?
Global development is the shared effort of 193 UN member states, thousands of non-governmental organisations and millions of citizens to build a fairer, more sustainable and more peaceful world. Two guides stand at the centre: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with 30 articles that protect the dignity and freedom of every person, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which set the world’s agenda for ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all by 2030. We also follow the call for a culture goal after 2030, informally called SDG 18.
For many people this work feels far away, discussed in conference halls and policy papers, while change happens in communities. RYB exists to bridge that gap.
Every goal eventually becomes a budget line. In Finance we follow the money behind global development, for example how countries support each other through development aid, and where culture and peace need their place in the budgets that decide what gets done.
Explore 193 Countries
Every country faces its own challenges in advancing human rights and sustainable development. Our interactive world map lets you explore this country by country: each nation’s SDG priorities, the organisations working there, and how RYB projects such as Culture Women’s Days are taking root.
About RYB
We are a group of researchers, artists and designers building a platform for global development. Our editorial direction is led by Frank Verspoor, editor-in-chief of RYB Global Development, and artist and curator of the Red Yellow Blue Silk Road. Our work begins with information: helping people understand how development works, the role of the UN and NGOs, and the guides that shape international cooperation. From there, we create projects that turn understanding into action.