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
Wittgenstein: (Sagt W) 1, 1971
Mixed Media , 36 x 40.5 cm
paint and felt tip on Darvic

(Wittgenstein: (Says W) 2)

"In 1974, after finishing my studies at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, I started reading Wittgenstein and the books of Marquis de Sade, and I took out a subscription for The New Scientist. It confused me that I didn’t encounter any women in the art history books whose example I could follow. Unconsciously, I suffered from the contradictions that society constantly imposed on me in all its facets, and also from the fact that much is being concealed. At that time I made a lot of work on PVC with abstract shapes and quotes on the future and meaning, in luminous colours, especially those visible only in UV light. These works are an impetus for developing my own logic."

− AMVK