From 22 November to 20 December 2025, French artist Jeanne Vrastor is pleased to present a new body of work at the Huidenclub in Rotterdam. Presented in collaboration with curator Berber Meindertsma and graphic designer Francesco Battaglia, 'A drop does not fall in a straight line' marks Jeanne Vrastor’s first solo and site-specific exhibition in the Netherlands.
Developed over five years of research, the works in the exhibition explore time as a material outcome and active agent. Vrastor is interested in revealing the temporal and material intra-relations that are at play in embodied gestures of working with materials, such as in basket making and weaving. The works in A drop does not fall in a straight line bring different temporalities together to create a deeper and more embodied sense of time.
At the heart of the exhibition stands a large, hollow sculpture grown from microbial cellulose (SCOBY leather), its surface continuously stained by a slow drip of rust-tinted, plant-infused liquid. The process echoes the tanning traditions once central to the Huidenclub’s history as a leather factory. As witnesses to the microbial and sonic processes at play, a body of smaller aluminium works is placed around the SCOBY sculpture. These works are shaped after prehistoric artifacts of woven fabrics that have been found in archeological excavations. Immersed in rust-coloured light, the works together form an installation that transforms material, sound and gesture into a lived experience of time.
'A drop does not fall in a straight line' engages with the Huidenclub on multiple levels. Once a tannery and now a meeting place for work, social gathering and reflection, the space carries layered temporalities and traditions which the exhibition activates rather than merely references. It becomes both subject and collaborator - its own rhythms and histories activated within Vrastor’s exploration of deep time through material gestures.
Programme:
• Opening: Saturday 22 November, 17:00–21:00
• Listening session: Saturday 6 December, 15:00–17:00 with Ash
• Curatorial talk: Saturday 6 December, from 18:00 with Rawad Baaklini, Jeanne Vrastor, and Berber Meindertsma
• Closing event: Saturday 20 December
