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)image: AMVK
5. Effect, 4. Factor, 3. Reflex, 2. Instrument, 1. Principle, 1991
Painting , 244 x 122 x 0.3 cm
silkscreen paint and plastic foil on forex on wood

"The original is a found image of a naked woman from a soft porn magazine. It is an odalisk, waiting at the telephone. I have doubled the image on itself and added abstract elements, coloured, highlighted areas. The numeration has been inverted, going from from 5. to 1.

Normally, you produce instruments from a principle, which after a while become automatic reflexes, which then become a factor of your identity, which ultimately has an effect on the outside world. All these elements will pop up when, as a woman, you show stereotypical behaviour, so that you unconsciously become a channel of assumptions."

− AMVK