Trissino, the heart of the Agno Valley and its leatherworking tradition, hosts Nijvel I by Berlinde De Bruyckere. La Filanda, an art center and museum, inaugurates its new CAMERA format with a project that intertwines art and business, thanks to the collaboration with Galleria Continua and Rino Mastrotto, a global leather company. From November 29 to December 21, 2025, a single work takes center stage: folded, layered, compressed leather. A material that vibrates between body and industry, between memory and transformation. In the midst of it all, Rino Mastrotto is present not as a mere backdrop, but as part of a broader dialogue. In this context, art questions matter, leather becomes a threshold, a boundary, a surface that exposes and protects.
Leather and body
Nijvel I stems from the Belgian artist’s direct experience in the industrial spaces of Anderlecht and Nijvel. Environments saturated with smells, humidity, and repetitive gestures. From there, a folded “volume” takes shape, faceless and shapeless, but charged with tension. A “volume” that doesn’t represent, but evokes. Leather is the center: animal and human, industrial and cultural. It’s a boundary that preserves invisible traces, a memory that layers itself. In Filanda, a place marked by the history of tanning, the work becomes a device.
Not an object to be contemplated, but a subject that forces us to think. What does it mean to transform, produce, consume? The dialogue with Rino Mastrotto amplifies the question. “When we were presented with the opportunity to be a partner in this exhibition, we enthusiastically agreed because the work on display tells the story of our craft, our DNA. It’s certainly a valuable opportunity for everyone to learn about our industry and, for us, to share its values”, emphasized Rino Mastrotto. He also added that in the coming weeks, workshops will be held for the children of Rino Mastrotto employees and local children, who will be able to engage with this material and learn about its history and values.
The artwork
A single piece of artwork, at the center. Time and attention become part of the experience. It’s an invitation to slow down, to really look. Nijvel I offers itself as a threshold: a mass of leather that is no longer an organism nor yet an object. Body that becomes matter, matter that becomes memory. In this space, art and industry touch without merging. Not just surface, but boundaries that expand. De Bruyckere folds it, layers it, makes it fragile and powerful. CAMERA, an open space in which to experience the work, returns this fragility to the public. Thus transforming skin into a mirror of time and responsibility.
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