Every third Friday of the month, you're welcome at the Kunsthal for an exciting and inspiring programme infused with a generous dose of art. All exhibitions are open until 22:00 hrs and each edition is curated by a different Rotterdam-based partner. On Friday 16 January, PAARDENRAVE (horse rave) will be pulling the strings. The exhibition David Shrigley. What the Hell Was I Thinking? serves as the source of inspiration for this vibrant evening.
PAARDENRAVE is a Rotterdam-based, boundary-pushing club and performance concept celebrating the power of a multidisciplinary night full of energy, fantasy, and a whole lot of horse. From clubs to massive festival fields, PAARDENRAVE has already left its hoofprints at venues and festivals like Mysteryland, Blijdorp Festival, Perron and 160K, transforming each space into a pony club.
During Friday Night Live PAARDENRAVE will transform the Kunsthal into a crazy rodeo. Through a blend of high-energy, genre-fluid DJs, performance, film, talks and art, we get any herd going. Expect hay in your hair, carrots flying through the air and going full gallop. Are you ready to show us how you stick out a wild ride? Get your horses out of the stable, saddle up and get ready for a rodeo!
Programme
Kunsthal cafe: PAARDENRAVE
Are you ready to rodeo? PAARDENRAVE is known for its high-quality line-ups and genre-fluid DJs. Specially curated for Friday Night LIVE, the collective has prepared a wild ride. Featuring: APOLLO 18, MENBYRUN COLLECTIVE, SHADY LADY & KAHORSA.
POP-UP: THE MANE GIRLS OF PAARDENRAVE
Who’s that pony? FFIES, Puxxy Machina, and Maurice Evenich together form The Mane Girls of PAARDENRAVE. Are you ready for a critical gaze, or will you get a carrot and a nod of approval instead? These ponies are lightly chaotic and a little cheeky. No fixed time, no fixed place.
PERFORMANCES: PAARDENRAVE GOT TALENT
PAARDENRAVE takes you on a showcase of talented performers and interdisciplinary acts. Circus, poetry, pole dance, performance, lip sync, and stand-up comedy. PAARDENRAVE without performers is not a real PAARDENRAVE. Starring: MUS, FOXY ROXY, JOHNNY LOVES ME, PHOEBE PERRY, SHANAN, MARY HOOCHIE, and MAYBELLINE.
RELNACHT
After a brief residency at Platform Horizon, RELNACHT presents its new mission for 2026. Guided by questions of context, language, and self-definition, founder and artistic director Didi Kreike has re-examined RELNACHT’s position and working methods. This process resulted in a new manifesto and a conscious shift: from the label ‘collective’ to ‘cartel’. Get a look at the first outcome of this shift , curated by co-founder Lodewijk van Dijk together with PAARDENRAVE. At the same time, RELNACHT’s new visual identity and website will also be launched.
Galloping Through the Kunsthal
Friday Night Tours
16 January 2026 17:00 -
16 January 2026 22:00
Gallop through the Kunsthal at full speed with one of the KunstHoppen tours!
horse brain rot
Horse. Another horse. Yet another horse. Running. Standing still. Watching. Nothing but horse. Don’t look away. It’s okay. Horse. Dive into a brain rot: 30 minutes of horse videos inspired by TikTok and Instagram algorithms.
SHORT FILM MARATHON
A love for horses often begins with cinema. Amika after the children’s news, crying over Spirit and Black Beauty as your first heartbreaks. It therefore makes perfect sense that a horse-themed short film marathon could not be left out. PAARDENRAVE invites filmmakers who do not portray the horse as cute or well-behaved, but as wild, strange, funny, and human. Film at full gallop.
PANEL TALK: PERFORMANCE IN NIGHT LIFE
Join a panel talk on performance in nightlife. PAARDENRAVE places strong value on booking DJs and performers, as well as on the use of décor and costume, and believes that a great party goes beyond its DJ line-up. With rising costs and high DJ fees, it is increasingly difficult to keep nightlife multidisciplinary. What is the importance of performance in nightlife? Take part in this conversation moderated by Epifania Queta (N8W8) and Lodewijk van Dijk (PAARDENRAVE, 160K, RELNACHT), with panelists Thys Boer (N8W8, Night Mayor), Connor Schumacher (ARK), Maggie Laylon Saunders (STRIPTOPIA) and Didi Kreike (RELNACHT).
David Shrigley. What the Hell Was I Thinking?
With his dryly comic drawings, absurdist installations and sharp observations, British artist David Shrigley (1968) offers a humorous and critical view of life and the art world. In the exhibition What the Hell Was I Thinking?, Shrigley turns that gaze inward for the first time, giving you a glimpse inside his mind. He provides witty commentary throughout the exhibition, with observations that scrutinise both society and his own work. The presentation shows how he looks back on earlier pieces, reworks ideas, and gives space to doubt. For Shrigley, being an artist is not about lofty genius, but about a process of experimentation and reflection.
