# Travel inspiration
Out and about
7x Fun events in June in Rotterdam
Anyone walking through the centre of Rotterdam might not expect it straight away, but inside WTC Rotterdam you’ll find one of those places that briefly pulls you out of the city’s pace. The WTC Rotterdam Art Gallery has been a constant presence for contemporary art for over 35 years, yet it still feels like a well-kept secret.
Following a sustainable renovation, the space is brighter, calmer and more spacious than ever. Large walls, plenty of air, and exactly the right setting for the artworks to truly come into their own. Curator and visual artist Astrid de Pauw has selected works for this exhibition that focus on intensity, rhythm and concentration.
The current exhibition brings together work by Hulya Yilmaz, Marco Douma and Esther Schoonhoven. Until 21 June 2026, the gallery transforms into a series of installations that don’t reveal everything straight away, but instead invite you to keep looking.
What you see here are not traditional works that you view one by one, but large-scale series that function as a whole. They hang, flow and respond to one another in the space. As a result, something emerges that cannot easily be taken in at a single glance; it is more of an experience than an overview.
In the work of Marco Douma, for example, you can sense how time builds up in layers. His charcoal drawings, once part of audiovisual projects, have now been detached from movement and sound and placed in the space as large-scale installations. As a result, an almost physical stillness emerges in which you begin to feel the repetition and concentration in each work.
With Hulya Yilmaz, everything revolves around emotion and movement. Her large series of drawings stems from an intuitive, almost physical way of working in which nature and inner experience flow into one another. The works feel as though they are in constant transformation, as if they cannot quite be held still.
The dark, layered works of Esther Schoonhoven do the opposite: they slow down the act of looking. She scratches light out of darkness, building images that gradually unfold. Her work feels like reading without words, where each layer suggests something new without fully explaining it.
The gallery is open every day from 9.00 to 19.00. Gallery manager Astrid de Pauw is present on Fridays and Saturdays from 13.00 to 17.00 (during exhibitions).
Would you like to meet one of the artists? On 6 June, Esther Schoonhoven will be present from 14.00 to 17.00!
