Episode
What Installation Artists Need: Nicolas de Oliveira & Nicola Oxley
- Podcast
- The Installation Art Podcast
- Published
- Feb 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 7290
- Processing state
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Summary
Get 15% off your .art domain name: https://get.art/?refdotart=art5044n9z17m promo code: ART5044N9Z17M Try Hostinger: https://hostinger.com?REFERRALCODE=INSTALLATIONART An extraordinary conversation with Nicolas de Oliveira and Nicola Oxley, the writer-curator duo who literally wrote the books on installation art and founded the Museum of Installation in London. For nearly 40 years, they've been chroniclers, producers, curators, and advocates for a medium that barely had a name when they first started. From publishing the definitive Installation Art books (1994, 2003) and commissioning hundreds of new works to building an extensive archive – Nicolas and Nicola have been at the coalface of installation art's evolution. In this wide-ranging discussion, they share what it was like convincing galleries that installation art even existed, why good documentation became their mission, and how they've sustained independent curatorial practice for four decades on "absolute shoestring budgets." Key insights from this episode: • How installation art emerged and why galleries insisted it was "just sculpture" • Coining the term "immersive" in their 2003 book (before it became ubiquitous) • Their philosophy of curating as co-production • The economics of independent spaces: how friendships sustain what funding cannot • Why they turned down a massive London space and turned to making books • The difference between installation art and the "entertainment industry" of immersive experiences • Advice for emerging artists: practice comes first, outcomes come later Nicolas de Oliveira and Nicola Oxley are based in London and run SE8 Gallery in Deptford. Their books Installation Art (1994) and Installation Art in the New Millennium (2003) remain foundational texts in the field. They publish…