Nikki Kane is a Lecturer in New Media Art. Her teaching and research focuses are in contemporary art practices and history, curating and exhibition practices, and cultural careers.

She is completing a PhD  in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, examining the role of festivals in contemporary art careers,  issues of cultural labour, festival and biennial cultures, and related curatorial practices.

Nikki has presented curatorial and artistic projects and undertaken residencies in the UK and internationally, and was one of eight participants in CuratorLab 2016-17, an international programme based at Konstfack, Stockholm. In 2019 she Nikki was Exhibition Researcher at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, USA, funded by the AHRC, where she researched and produced texts for the catalogue for the exhibition American Art 1961-2001. She was the Curator in Residence at House for an Art Lover, Glasgow in 2017, and was part of the committee at Market Gallery, Glasgow in 2014-16. She also has 10 years of experience working with arts and cultural organisations in project management, production and administrative roles, in particular in the development and delivery of large-scale public art projects. She is currently on the board of trustees of artist-run space Market Gallery, and Wasps who provide studio and workshop spaces across Scotland.

Nikki's doctoral research is titled Making Art and Making a Living: The role of festivals in contemporary art careers and is undertaken as an AHRC Creative Economies Studentship based at the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Queen Margaret University, Glasgow International, and Edinburgh Art Festival. Her research concerns include working conditions and precarity; festival and biennial cultures; curatorial frameworks and how they might offer supportive models for practitioners; the impact of temporary and re-occurring events on both artists’ careers and artworks made; and the narrative of the artistic career itself.

Her broader academic and curatorial research interests include:

Work and labour
Performance, choreography and the body
Public space
Artist-run spaces
Curatorial practice and responsibility
Fashion and visual culture
Socially-engaged artistic practice
Scent as an artistic material