Yoko Ono's Instructions Take Over a Bosphorus Museum

Inner Voice and Inner Structure gathers 67 works by Yoko Ono, from her early instruction pieces to later performances and installations. The instruction works are the least object-like part of her output: a few lines of text tell the viewer what to do, and the action becomes the work. Hanging them in a museum raises the question directly, since what goes on the wall is the description rather than the piece itself.

The exhibition occupies every space in the museum, which is not a routine decision for an institution built around a historic mansion and a calligraphy collection. Ono's work runs on emptiness, sound and participation, and it only registers when room is made for it. Her position in art history was corrected in major institutions only in the past twenty years, after decades of being read through her marriage, and this show is that correction arriving in Turkey. It opened on 25 June 2026 and closes on 27 December 2026 in Emirgan. Read the texts rather than walking past them.