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: M HKA
Respecting the Eternal Balance: Place= (Intelligence + Color):(Consciousness:Time), Shanghai, 2012
Mixed Media , 101 x 115 x 15 cm
lightbox piece, acrylic and collage on plexiglass in wooden frame

"This series is about urbanism, rhythm and inner nature. All these works started from the ‘soul’ that I experience in a certain city or place where I have been or wanted to be in the past 20 years."

− AMVK


"...The common theme under which these lightworks are made is Respecting the Eternal Balance. The works deal with urbanity, rhythm and interiority and start from the soul felt by me in a certain place. These works shouldn’t give themselves away immediately, therefor the 3-dimensionality, visible layers and the possibility to look in. These works are going from the outside to the inside. On the one hand they deal with solidarity and universalism, with collectivity. On the other hand with urbanization and appropriation. Also with the pressure by the environment becomes this big on a living body that a language appears. It is the city and the place in general as a living organism, with a specific soul, that inspires. That soul can be linked with personal emotions but pulls as much its identity out of the variety of measurements, divisions, rhythms in buildings and streets, in urbanization, that define the character of a given city. It is the contemporary impact of the place on collective consciousness that I transform into transcendence." 

− AMVK