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".

Guillaume Bijl

Mon Chalet [My Chalet], 1987
Installation , 310 x 310 x 230 cm
mixed media

Mon Chalet is the first work that Guillaume Bijl realized in the series 'Situation-Installations' intended for the open air. It is a pre-fab chalet with typical furnishings. Guillaume Bijl calls his 'Situation-Installations' ‘a non-reality within a reality’. These are small, image-disturbing interventions in the everyday environment – or, in the present case, in the museum space. With the installation Mon Chalet, Bijl creates a new reality which vis-à-vis true reality comes over as absurdist and surreal. He makes it clear that art resides in a domain that falls between reality and fiction and, by definition, contains an estranging dimension.