Garage Rotterdam

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 is currently on show at Garage Rotterdam, visit the show every Wednesday to Sunday until July 19th.

Participating artists: Effi & Amir, Tingyi Jiang, Eva & Franco Mattes, Lana Mesić, Yoko Ono, José Quintanar, Coralie Vogelaar, and Erwin Wurm.

Curated by Marijn Bril, winner of the 2026 Garage Rotterdam Prize for Young Curators.

To proceed, please follow the instructions carefully.

Instructions are everywhere. From fitness routines and makeup tutorials to algorithms, official procedures, and implicit codes of conduct, they shape how we move through everyday life. At first glance, they appear as neutral tools – simply as ways to get things done. They help us operate a device, follow a workout, or complete a form correctly. At the same time, instructions translate complex realities into manageable steps, defining what counts as logical, desirable, or successful. As such, they encode cultural norms, institutional priorities, and power dynamics.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 approaches instructions both as a method and as a subject of critical inquiry. Through performative strategies, illustrations, and video installations, the artists examine how instructions shape behaviour, identities, and perception. They dissect manuals, rewrite tutorials, and develop new instructions that – echoing the spirit of Fluxus – range from poetic to absurd.

Marijn Bril Effi & Amir Tingyi Eva & Franco Mattes Lana Mesić Yoko Ono

Images: Aad Hoogendoorn

Opening tomorrow❕𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, curated by ⚒️

With:
Effi & Amir








Programme:
19:00 Doors open
19:45 Welcome + introduction by curator Marijn Bril
20:15 Tunes by &
23:30 End

We hope to see you there! 🌀

The exhibition will be on view from 23 May until 19 July 2026.

📸 Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots (Turkish market), 2020, Screenshot from video, featuring Irina Cocimarov, courtesy: the artists & Apalazzo Gallery.

Up next at Garage Rotterdam → 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, curated by Marijn Bril, winner of the 2026 Garage Rotterdam Prize for Young Curators.

Join us for the festive exhibition opening on Friday 22 May 2026 - 7 PM. Free entry!

Participating artists: Effi & Amir, Tingyi Jiang, Eva & Franco Mattes, Lana Mesić, Yoko Ono, José Quintanar, Coralie Vogelaar, and Erwin Wurm.

To proceed, please follow the instructions carefully.

Instructions are everywhere. From fitness routines and makeup tutorials to algorithms, official procedures, and implicit codes of conduct, they shape how we move through everyday life. At first glance, they appear as neutral tools — simply as ways to get things done. They help us operate a device, follow a workout, or complete a form correctly. At the same time, instructions translate complex realities into manageable steps, defining what counts as logical, desirable, or successful. As such, they encode cultural norms, institutional priorities, and power dynamics.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗼: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 approaches instructions both as a method and as a subject of critical inquiry. Through performative strategies, illustrations, and video installations, the artists examine how instructions shape behaviour, identities, and perception. They dissect manuals, rewrite tutorials, and develop new instructions that — echoing the spirit of Fluxus — range from poetic to absurd.

What happens when an instruction is decontextualised, parodied, or deliberately distorted? The artists in this exhibition render visible the assumptions embedded in these systems, shifting instructions from fixed directives into sites of negotiation.

Effi & Amir

📸 Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots, 2020, installation view Frankfurter Kunstverein 2023, photo: Melania Dalle Grave, DSL Studio, courtesy: the artists & Apalazzo Gallery.