Staff profiles
Professor Nick Kaye
Professor of Performance Studies
3307
01392 72 3307
Nick's research focuses on the history of post-war interdisciplinary performance and performance theory, with emphasis on the relationships between performance and the development of ideas and practices in sculpture, architectural theory, conceptual and performance art, experimental music, installation, video art and video installation.
His books include: Postmodernism and Performance (1994, Palgrave & St Martins), Art into Theatre: Performance Interviews and Documents (1996, Routledge), Site-Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation (2000, Routledge), Staging the Post-Avant-Garde: Italian Performance After 1970' (co-authored with Gabriella Giannachi 2002, Peter Lang), Multi-media: video - installation - performance (2007, Routledge), Performing Presence: Between the Live and the Simulated (co authored with Gabriella Giannachi, MUP: 2011) and Archaeologies of Presence (co-edited with Gabriella Giannachi and Michael Shanks, Routledge, 2012). Dennis Oppenheim: Body to Performance (with Amy van Winkle Oppenheim, Skira-Rizzoli 2016), and Artists in the Archive (with Paul Clarke, Johanna Linsley and Simon Jones, Routledge, 2018).
From 2005 - 2010 he was a principal investigator for Performing Presence: from the live to the simulated, a large-scale collaborative research project funded by an award of £275,000 from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, and which he led in collaboration with colleagues at Exeter English, Stanford Archaeology and UCL Computer Science. From 2011 - 2014, he collaborated with University of Bristol Drama and Arnolfini Bristol on Performing Documents: modeling creative and curatorial engagements with live art and performance archives, which is supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) award of £453,000. Amongst other events, the project included a large-scale exhibition at Arnoilfini Bristol in 2013 co-curated with Tom Trevor and a major book publication, Artists in the Archive: Creative and Curatorial Engagments with Documents of Art and Performance, edited by Paul Clarke, Simon Jones, Nick Kaye and Johanna Linsley and published by Routledge in June 2018. From January 2012 - 2016 he was Co-Director of "Research and Enterprise in Arts and Creative Technologies Hub" (REACT), one of four knowledge exchange hubs awarded nationally as part of a £16 million investment by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to create collaborative projects between research academics and creative industry partners. Nick was an Investigator for Popular performance for new urban audiences: reconnecting M50 creative cluster with Shanghai All-Female Yue Opera, a three-year collaboration from 2020 with Leeds University and the Shanghai Theatre Academy. The project received funding of £433K from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and STA.
Research papers have included presentations at Brown University, MoMA New York, Stanford University Drama, the National Institute of Advanced Studies Bangalore, Fudan University Shanghai, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Tsingua School of Art and Design in Beijing.
Nick's most recent monograph, Conceptual Performance: enacting conceptual art, is to be published by Routledge in December 2023. Research for this project was supported by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant. His current publication projects include San Francisco Performance, contracted to Manchester University Press.
Nick convenes and teaches research options in:
- The New York Avant-Garde (Year 2)
- Conceptual Art (Year 3)
- Performance Art (Year 3)
He also contributes to a range of core courses and the MA Curation.
Research interests
Nick's research focuses on the history of post-war interdisciplinary performance and performance theory, with emphasis on the relationships between performance and the development of ideas and practices in sculpture, architectural theory, conceptual and performance art, experimental music, installation, video art and video installation.
His books include: Postmodernism and Performance (1994, Palgrave & St Martins), Art into Theatre: Performance Interviews and Documents (1996, Routledge), Site-Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation (2000, Routledge), Staging the Post-Avant-Garde: Italian Performance After 1970' (co-authored with Gabriella Giannachi 2002, Peter Lang), Multi-media: video - installation - performance (2007, Routledge), Performing Presence: Between the Live and the Simulated (co authored with Gabriella Giannachi, MUP: 2011) and Archaeologies of Presence (co-edited with Gabriella Giannachi and Michael Shanks, Routledge, 2012). Dennis Oppenheim: Body to Performance (with Amy van Winkle Oppenheim, Skira-Rizzoli 2016), and Artists in the Archive (with Paul Clarke, Johanna Linsley and Simon Jones, Routledge, 2018).
From 2005 - 2010 he was a principal investigator for Performing Presence: from the live to the simulated, a large-scale collaborative research project funded by an award of £275,000 from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, and which he led in collaboration with colleagues at Exeter English, Stanford Archaeology and UCL Computer Science. From 2011 - 2014, he collaborated with University of Bristol Drama and Arnolfini Bristol on Performing Documents: modeling creative and curatorial engagements with live art and performance archives, which is supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) award of £453,000. Amongst other events, the project included a large-scale exhibition at Arnoilfini Bristol in 2013 co-curated with Tom Trevor and a major book publication, Artists in the Archive: Creative and Curatorial Engagments with Documents of Art and Performance, edited by Paul Clarke, Simon Jones, Nick Kaye and Johanna Linsley and published by Routledge in June 2018. From January 2012 - 2016 he was Co-Director of "Research and Enterprise in Arts and Creative Technologies Hub" (REACT), one of four knowledge exchange hubs awarded nationally as part of a £16 million investment by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to create collaborative projects between research academics and creative industry partners. Nick was an Investigator for Popular performance for new urban audiences: reconnecting M50 creative cluster with Shanghai All-Female Yue Opera, a three-year collaboration from 2020 with Leeds University and the Shanghai Theatre Academy. The project received funding of £433K from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and STA.
Research papers have included presentations at Brown University, MoMA New York, Stanford University Drama, the National Institute of Advanced Studies Bangalore, Fudan University Shanghai, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Tsingua School of Art and Design in Beijing.
Nick's most recent monograph, Conceptual Performance: enacting conceptual art, is to be published by Routledge in December 2023 Research for this project was supported by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant. His current publication projects include San Francisco Performance, contracted to Manchester University Press.