1. Michel Blazy, Mur de pellicules (rouges), 2011-2015, Agar-agar, eau et colorant alimentaire. Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d'art moderne - Centre de création industrielle. Exposition "mode d'emploi", MAMCS, 2024. Photo : M. Bertola, Musées de Strasbourg © ADAGP, Paris 2024
Instructions for use
The Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (MAMCS) invites audiences into an artistic experiment with the exhibition, "Instructions for Use. Follow the Artist’s Instructions". Running from September 27, 2024, to June 1, 2025, this show reimagines authorship and artistry, presenting works crafted by following instructions rather than through direct artist intervention. This bold exploration of "instruction-based art" traces its origins and development of the movement from the 1960s to today, offering audiences a participatory experience that breaks away from traditional art viewing.
Art Through instructions
2. Marianne Mispelaëre, Bibliothèque des Silences, depuis 2017, Fusain et gomme mie de pain. Frac Occitane Montpellier. Exposition "mode d'emploi", MAMCS, 2024. Photo: M. Bertola, Musées de Strasbourg, © ADAGP, Paris 2024
The exhibition’s concept is both simple and revolutionary: Can art be made from instructions alone? By allowing third parties to create or complete artworks based on artist-provided guidelines, these pieces invite viewers to experience art as a process.
The shift from autograph (directly created by the artist’s hand) to allograph (produced by someone other than the artist) dissolves traditional boundaries between artist, artwork, and audience. Artists like Marcel Duchamp and László Moholy-Nagy pioneered these ideas, challenging assumptions about originality, authorship, and permanence, setting the stage for instruction-based art’s journey into contemporary art.
With over 50 works contributed by more than forty international artists, this exhibition showcases the versatility and impact of instruction-based art. Among the featured works are pieces by renowned artists like Sol LeWitt, Yoko Ono, Lawrence Weiner, Vera Molnár, and Erwin Wurm, each of whom provides unique instruction-based art that invites viewer participation.
Thematic journey through
Action-Oriented verbs
3. Erwin Wurm, One minute sculpture. Sculpture : Untitled (Double), 2002. Œuvre à protocole, technique mixte. Coll. (mac) musée d'art contemporain de Marseille. Performance pour l'exposition "mode d'emploi", MAMCS, 2024. Photo : M. Bertola, Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg, © ADAGP, Paris 2024.
"Instructions for Use" organizes these works around eight thematic actions, each represented by a verb that invites visitors to actively engage with different facets of instruction-based art. These verbs guide participants through processes like constructing, interpreting, and disassembling, turning the museum space into an interactive arena for creation and discovery. As viewers engage with these concepts, they participate in the art-making process, effectively co-creating the experience.
Each thematic station is marked by large-scale installations and interactive elements that invite visitor involvement. By framing the exhibition in action-oriented terms, MAMCS transforms the conventional museum visit into an evolving, participatory experience, where every visitor can contribute to and shape the artwork itself.
In this sense, the exhibition does not simply display art; it activates it through each viewer’s engagement. This participatory approach democratizes the creative process and allows each rendition of the work to reflect the specific context of its making, be it time, place, or the personality of the participant.
The audience’s role is crucial in Wurm’s "One Minute Sculpture", for example, where the artwork’s existence relies on the visitor’s willingness to perform. Likewise, in Mispelaëre’s "Bibliothèque des Silences", each participant’s silent contribution is unique, becoming an integral part of the ongoing work. In this way, public participation becomes a means of collective artistic expression, where the boundaries between artist and audience are blurred, and the artwork evolves with each interaction.
Sustainable curation
"Instructions for Use" also embraces a commitment to eco-responsibility. Uniquely, no works were transported for the exhibition; instead, the museum curated and constructed all installations locally, using reused materials to minimize its environmental footprint. This approach aligns the exhibition’s ethos with contemporary values, advocating for a sustainable model of art presentation.
Accompanying the exhibition is a limited-edition catalog, with only 800 copies available. Each copy serves as an individual artifact, resonating with the theme of originality within standardized frameworks. This catalog not only documents the exhibition but also embodies the uniqueness of each experience within the collective concept, offering visitors a physical memento of the exhibition's principles.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg (MAMCS)
Date: 27.09.2024 – 01.06.2025
Curators: Philippe Bettinelli and Anna Millers
Ticket: Available at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg (MAMCS)
Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg
1, place Hans-Jean Arp
67000 Strasbourg
Phone: +33 (0)3 68 98 50 00