Middle Gate

    NLEN

    The exhibition project Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna is a collaboration between M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp) and the cultural centre de Werft in Geel. Middle Gate II is the follow up to the exhibition Middle Gate, curated by Jan Hoet in Geel in 2013. The exhibition concept is closely tied to the legend of the holy Dymphna, saint of the possessed, the mentally ill and patroness against epilepsy and insanity. The legend of Dymphna shares a strong connection to the identity of Geel, "the charitable city".

    Almagul Menlibayeva

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    (c)image: M HKA
    Headcharge Installation, 2007-2007
    Almagul Menlibayeva
    Installation , 00:12:00 min

    Through her work, Almagul Menlibayeva reflects on Kazakh national identity and on the changes her home country went through in the soviet and postsoviet eras. In the installation Headcharge, she symbolically portrays this investigation, using traditional mythological imagery. Four fancily dressed women go out for dinner in the commercial, contemporary Kazakhstan, like modern-day fairies of nomadic myths. In an attempt to understand the political and economic changes the country went through, they order a sheep's head, a Kazakh delicacy; according to shamanic beliefs, consuming the eyes leads to better sight and understanding. Then, exposed, vulnerable and powerless on the wide steppes, they discover that their traditional role has changed - or has it? In Headcharge, Menlibayeva borrows from traditional Kazakh culture to create a new myth.

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