A number of
institutions focusing on Installation art were created from the 1980s onwards,
suggesting the need for Installation to be seen as a separate discipline. These
included the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, the Museum of Installation in London,
and the Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor, MI, among others.
Installation art came to prominence in the 1970s but its roots can be identified in
earlier artists such as Marcel Duchamp and his use of the readymade and Kurt
Schwitters' Merz art objects, rather than more traditional craft based sculpture.
The intention of the artist is paramount in much later installation art whose roots lie in the conceptual art of the
1960s. This again is a departure from traditional sculpture which places its focus on form. Early non-Western
installation art includes events staged by the Gutai group in Japan starting in 1954, which influenced American
installation pioneers like Allan Kaprow.