A contemporary art space in a 1931 cold store on the Maashaven. We open at four and close when the city has gone quiet.
Press release
Rotterdam, 4 September 2026
For immediate release
R1 · R2 · R3
12.09.2026 – 17.01.2027
Low Light
Index.
Solo exhibition
Varga paints the harbour between three and five in the morning, when the cranes are lit and nobody is looking. Low Light Index is her first institutional show: eleven paintings, one sculpture that hums, and forty drawings made by the light of a single bulb.
The show runs through the three ground-floor cold rooms of the Koelhuis, where the walls are still sixty centimetres of cork and brick. Room 1 is lit at 50 lux, as paintings require. Room 2 is not lit at all: you are handed a torch at the door.
Varga trained as a scene painter at the Hungarian State Opera before moving to Rotterdam in 2014. She has worked nights at the Maashaven grain silo since 2019; most of these paintings were started on shift. Curated by Maud Ilić.
Fig. 1
Installation view, Room 1, Low Light Index, 2026. Left to right: Night Crane I, Night Crane II, Vigil (Maashaven, 03:12). AI-generated demo image.
Dates
12.09.2026 – 17.01.2027
Rooms
R1 · R2 · R3
Works
11 paintings, 1 sculpture, 40 drawings
Curator
Maud Ilić
Opening
Fri 11 Sep 2026, 20:00 till late
Room 2 is kept dark.
Varga asked for one room without lights. Take the torch from the hook by the door, the way the night guard does, and the wall labels will find you. Torch tours every Friday at 22:00.
Torches are wound by hand. Please hang yours back on the hook.
Four works, read slowly.
Every label here is the one on the wall: artist, title, date, medium, size, and who owns it now. A red dot means the work has found a home.
Cat. 01 · R1
Ines Varga (b. 1987, Pécs)
Oil and graphite on unprimed linen
210 × 160 cm
Private collection, Antwerp
Painted over eleven nights from the cab of crane 4. The only light in the picture is the one on the far quay; the rest is graphite rubbed back into the oil.
Cat. 07 · R2
Ines Varga
Ink on 40 sheets of Bugra paper
Each 29.7 × 21 cm; overall 168 × 190 cm
€18,500 · enquire at the desk
One sheet a night for forty nights, drawn between 04:00 and sunrise. Hung in Room 2, where you will only ever see part of it at once.
Cat. 04 · R2
Ines Varga
Gelatin silver print
50 × 40 cm · edition of 5 + 2 AP
€2,400 · 3 of 5 available
Cat. 11 · R3
Ines Varga
Brushed aluminium, low-pressure sodium lamp, cable
182 × 40 × 40 cm
€14,000
Where things are.
R1
Low Light Index
Paintings, at 50 lux
R2
Low Light Index
The dark room, at 3 lux. Torch at the door
R3
Hum
Sodium light and a low tone
R4
Night Shift
Project space, first floor, lift
R5
Reading room
Books, editions, the desk
Dock
The bar
Fridays from 21:00
Fig. 2 — Ground floor, drawn from the 1931 cold-store plans. R4 is upstairs.
Programme · Nov 2026 – Jan 2027
What’s on after dark.
All times CET. Book at the desk or by email; tours keep two places for people who just turn up.
06.11
Fri · 22:00
A night guard walks twelve people through Room 2 with one torch between them. Forty minutes, very few words.
Tour · R2
€4 · 12 places
12.11
Thu · 19:30
On painting in the dark, working nights at the silo, and why the cranes are never switched off.
Talk · R5
Free · book
27.11
Fri · 23:00
Seventy minutes for a room kept at four degrees. Coats recommended; blankets at the door.
Late · R3
€12
05.12
Sat · 16:00
Launch of the catalogue with Nachtboek Press. Varga signs copies until the pen gives out.
Launch · R5
Free
18.12
Fri · 22:00
We put one chair in front of Vigil. You sit, we keep time, nobody talks.
Practice · R1
€6
17.01
Sun · 19:30
The final evening of Low Light Index. At 19:55 we switch on the lights in Room 2, for the first and only time.
Closing · R1–R3
Free
Also on · R4, first floor · 19.09 – 20.12.2026
Work jackets cast in concrete, one for each crew on the Waalhaven night shift. Each weighs what the docker who lent it did.
Next · R1–R3 · 30.01 – 25.04.2027
Photograms made without a camera, after dark. Four artists and one darkroom left open for the run.
Then: Noor el-Amin, Saltwater Radio · 14.05 – 29.08.2027 · R1–R3
Every Friday · R1–R5 and the dock
Fridays
till 02:00.
On Fridays the building stays open while the harbour sleeps. Entry after 22:00 is free on the last Friday of the month; the torches are on us.
21:00
The bar opens on the loading dock. Beer from across the river, wine by the glass, no cocktails.
22:00
Torch tour of Room 2. Twelve places, €4, ask at the desk.
23:00
Sound in the cold rooms, or nothing at all. See the programme.
01:30
Last entry. At 02:00 we switch off the red light over the door.
Fig. 3 — Ines Varga in her studio on the Katendrecht, 02:40. AI-generated demo image.
Kept up late.
Low Light Index · R1–R3 · 2026–27
Night Shift · R4 · 2026
Saltwater Radio · R1–R3 · 2027
Afterimage · R1–R3 · 2027
Afterimage · R1–R3 · 2027
Afterimage · R1–R3 · 2027
Afterimage · R1–R3 · 2027
Cold Room · R3 · 2026 · Late Fridays
The Quiet Inventory · R1–R3 · 2025
Find the door.
Four minutes from Metro Maashaven. Walk west along the quay until you see a red light above a steel door.
Hours
Mon – Tue
Closed. We are hanging things
Wed – Thu
16:00 – 00:00
Friday
16:00 – 02:00 · Late
Saturday
12:00 – 00:00
Sunday
12:00 – 20:00
Last entry
30 minutes before lights off
Tickets
€12
Standard, all rooms
€7
Students, CJP, Rotterdampas
Free
Under 18, Museumkaart
Free
Last Friday of the month, after 22:00
+ €4
Torch tour of Room 2
Getting here
Metro
D or E to Maashaven, 4 min walk
Tram
20 or 23, stop Maashaven
Water taxi
Stop Maashaven, runs till 00:30
Bike
Racks on the dock, covered
Access
Step-free via the dock. Lift to R4–R5. Audio description in Room 2 on request
Fig. 9 — The Koelhuis from the quay, 23:40. The red light means we are open.
Take the dark home.
Low Light Index
The book. 168 pp., 92 plates, black cloth, 24 × 30 cm. Nachtboek Press
€38
Horizon (Maashaven), 2026
Screenprint on Somerset 300 g, signed, edition of 40. 50 × 40 cm
€240
Cold Store Study No. 4
Gelatin silver print, edition of 5 + 2 AP. 2 sold, 3 left
€2,400
The red dot is the oldest sign in the trade: it means sold. Ours also means open, and it sits at the end of every sentence we are sure about.
Sent at 23:00.
One email on the first Wednesday of the month. Openings, torch tours, and which Friday the bar ran out of ice.
Demo form · connect your newsletter provider before use.