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".

Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven / AMVK

(c)video still: AMVK
The 39 Steps vs. The 19 Keys, 1983
Video , 00:24:12
super 8 film

"Confrontation of the devilish mechanisms of film-making with the 19 satanic rituals to evoke the devil’s help. The structure of the movie was built on 19 stills of Alfred Hitchcock’s film The 39 Steps. The movie was mostly accompanied by a live music mix of Arnold Schoenberg’s Erklärte Nacht and Danny Devos chanting the enochian version of the ritual texts to be performed during the original rituals, found in the notorious book of Anton Szandor Lavey.

The story is about 3 friends, a fight and a murder.

Human perception must be complex. Insight in the evolution of visual perception shows that the evolution of the art forms is entangled with human patterns of behaviour. In every cultural period the same sort of changesoccured all over the globe during long period of evolution. The process of "looking" probably stayed the same, what changed was the interpretation and reproduction of the chosen visual. Each civilization developed its own artistic concepts, that influenced all persons who lived in the given historical period." 

− AMVK


Camera: AMVK

Editing: AMVK

Soundtrack: Club Moral

Actors: DDV, Dirk Paesmans, Koen Theys, AMVK

Produced by: Club Moral