Unit 7 was opened in November 1986 by Nicola Oxley and Nicolas de Oliveira as one of the few galleries in the world devoted uniquely to Installation work. Installation art was, at the time, still a challenging term used to denote art pieces made for a particular environment, and the programme included immersive works that identified a clear distinction from sculpture. The exhibitions, located on the top floor of a warehouse in South London, were devised as entirely new works built by the artists and small teams of volunteers led by Oxley and de Oliveira; after the exhibition they were entirely dismantled, leaving little trace other than carefully taken photographic records and writings.

Founded and co-directed by de Oliveira and Oxley in 1990, MOI took the close collaboration with individual artists to ever-more ambitious heights; the shows in London’s Clerkenwell warehouse space, and later in Deptford, South London, grew in complexity and scale, and a number of temporary external sites in the UK and abroad were added to the programme, thus offering expanded spaces for artists to make new works in. These included the British Museum, the Diorama, The Peterborough Museum, Tate Gallery, the London Eye, Olympia Halls and others.

Conceptually, MOI is the follow on from Unit 7, in its dedication to commissioning new and ambitious Installation art works, but it also develops as an organisation by collaborating with other galleries and institutions abroad. It considers the idea of a Museum that is defined by its production and the assiduous upkeep of an extensive archive that chronicles its projects. The archive is maintained by its directors at SE8 Gallery to the present day.

Located next-door to MOI in Deptford, South London, Notice began as the next project of de Oliveira and Oxley, in association with artist and writer Charley Wooley. The exhibitions continue to be indebted to Installation art, but the relationship became more nuanced, as discrete works both in the space and in the external yard were brought together. It also acted as a means of curatorial reflection after the relentless production schedule of MOI, and initiated what was to become SE8 Gallery.