Nils Norman is an artist living in Amsterdam and Munich.
He works across the disciplines of public art, architecture and urban planning. His projects
challenge notions of the function of public art and the efficacy of mainstream urban planning and large-scale regeneration. Informed by local politics and ideas on alternative economic, ecological systems and play,
Norman’s work merges utopian alternatives with current urban design to create a humorous critique of
the discrete histories and functions of public art and urban planning. He exhibits and generates projects
and collaborations in museums and galleries internationally.
He has completed major public art projects including pedestrian bridges, small playgrounds and a landscaping project for the City of Roskilde, Denmark. He has participated in various biennials worldwide and has developed commissions for SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY; London Underground, UK; Tate Modern, UK; Tate Britain, UK; Loughborough University, UK; Creative Time, NYC and the Centre d’ Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland. He has developed a play strategy and designs for Mereside in Blackpool; designed a playground for the St Fagans Museum of National History in Cardiff, created a new library design for the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam; and has created theatre curtains for a primary school and community centre, both in Bristol. He is the lead artist for the city of Cambridge’s project to redevelop part of Trumpington, an area on the city’s southern fringe - developing play elements, 4 pedestrian bridges, bird screens and wayfinding and has recently completed a collaboration with 6a Architects and artist Gareth Jones on the redesign of MK Gallery Milton Keynes, UK. Designing the building's interior and exterior spaces, facade and landscaping.
He has recently been commissioned by Tate Britain, London, to respond to their collection, with a specific focus on the 17C, the English Civil War and Restoration. Nils is the author of five publications:
- Propuestas Para Una Plaza. Proposals For A Plaza. Editorial concept Fritz Haeg, Kit Hammonds and Nils Norman.Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico. 2018
- Edible Park, Nils Norman. Eds. Taco de Neef, Nils Norman, Peter de Rooden, Astrid Vorstermans. Valiz, NL. 2012;
- Thurrock 2015, a comic commissioned by the General Public Agency, London, UK, 2004
- An Architecture of Play: A Survey of London’s Adventure Playgrounds, Four Corners, London, UK, 2004
- The Contemporary Picturesque, Book Works, London, UK, 2000
From 2007-2017 Nils Norman was Professor at the the Royal Danish Academy of Art and Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, where he led the School of Walls and Space. During the pandemic he was a mentor on the fine arts department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, and is now a professor at the Munich Academy of Visual Arts.