Nils Norman works across the disciplines of sculpture, public art, architecture, play, urban planning, furniture design and gardening. His projects
challenge notions of the function of public art, how space is produced 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, theatre curtains, playgrounds, landscaping and wayfinding. He has participated in various biennials worldwide and has developed large-scale commissions for SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY; London Underground, UK; Tate Modern and Britain, 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 art library design for the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam; created three theatre curtains for MKGallery, a primary school and a community centre 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 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.
From 2007-2019 Nils Norman was a Professor at the the Royal Danish Academy of Art and Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, where he led the School of Walls and Space. Nils Norman has been a professor at AdBK Munich since 2022.
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