Nick Kaye's research and teaching 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). Nick's most recent monograph, Conceptual Performance: enacting conceptual art, was published by Routledge in 2024. His current publication projects include San Francisco Performance, for Manchester University Press.

Since 2005, Nick has been Principal or Co-Investigator in a a series of large-scale collaborative research projects, which have included collaborations with University College London, Stanford University, Bristol University, and the Shanghai Theatre Academy, amongst other national and international institutions and partners. 

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.