Born in 1962 in Halle a.s., Germany. Nicolai is known as a conceptual artist creating artworks which explore relations between concept, image and objects. In recent years Nicolai has been challenging human conventions of looking at objects, and aims to present theories of natural science and anthropology in alternative contexts through artistic approaches. He is the brother of Carsten Nicolai whose artwork is one of the permanent collections of Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, KINARE.