Large sectors of Norwegian art were for a long time devoted to pictorial qualities, sculptural modelling and graphic effects. To some degree Norwegian artists took part in the reassessment of views on art and historical perspectives taking place in much of the international world in the post-modern period, but they never really made the total break with tradition to which international modernism led elsewhere. Thus, when it comes to installation art and conceptual art, Norway has appeared conservative.

However, in the 1980 and 1990s transitional forms became a dominating trend. Important influences came from international conceptual art such as 'Arte Povera' and 'Land Art', as well as other phenomena of the 1960s and 1970s. In Norwegian installation art, nonetheless, little remained of the conceptual and analytical. What dominated was more a directed experience of space, cultivating the material’s own expression. An exponent of this trend was Per Inge Bjørlo (b 1952), who was particularly concerned with the inner workings of the mind. He often used industrial materials such as steel, rubber, commercial paints, and process was as important to him as results. Bjørlo has drawn attention at both the Sao Paolo and Venice Bienniales.

The installations of Bente Stokke (b 1952) should also be mentioned. Bente Stokke is professor in installation at the Faculty of Visual Arts, National Academy of the Arts, Oslo in Oslo and has for a long time in her art-making been concerned with issues of time and memory and their materialisation. Ashes – industrial residues retrieved from waste incineration plants – have figured prominently in her conceptually-based work since the early 1980s. In recent years Bjarne Melgaard (b 1967) has been successful both nationally and internationally with his installations, characterised by a chaotic overwhelming style which seems almost invasive to the spectator. Another noteworthy internationally-successful artist is Børre Sæthre (b 1967).

Today installation art is an integrated part of the Norwegian art-scene. Conceptual art, however, still seems to struggle to gain a widespread acceptance. One early example of a more conceptually-related art work in Norway is Marianne Heske´s (b 1946) work Utløe fra Tafjord. In 1980 she moved a 16th-century Norwegian øe (shelter) from Sunnmøre in Norway to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. After it had been exhibited, it was moved back home.

Two young exponents of a more conceptually-related art in Norway are Matias Faldbakken (b 1973) and Gardar Eide Einarsson (b 1977). Their work often deals with cultural criticism, sub cultural practices and the conditions for art practices to work as social criticism. Important are also the Danish-Norwegian duo Micael Elmgreen (b 1961) and Ingar Dragset (b 1969). Elmgreen and Dragset have collaborated since 1965 and their work explores the relationship between art, architecture and design.