Middle Gate

    NLEN

    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".

    Vanessa Van Obberghen

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    (c)Courtesy of the artist
    Tracing Cheikh Anta Diop , 2011
    Vanessa Van Obberghen
    Photography , 84 x 100 cm
    digital print on aluminium foil mounted on dibond

    Vanessa van Obberghen (°1969, Seoul, Republic of Korea) uses different media to reflect upon matters such as perception, migration and integration. Her works are concerned with the role of the 'document,' and the misunderstandings that arise when these come to be translated. Van Obberghen makes the glances and points-of-view themselves into the subject of her observations. In her oeuvre, the artist wishes to create space and time for viewers to call their own prejudices into question.

    In her research into Cheikh Anta Diop, one of the founders of Pan-Africanism, van Obberghen puts the emphasis on the various roles he fulfilled: scientist, philosopher, anthropologist, linguist and politician. With Tracing Cheikh Anta Diop, the artist translates her own personal vision of this documentary history into an image. Inspired by Cheikh Anta Diop's fascination for genetics and DNA, she uses an Asiatic model to address stereotypical thinking with regards to Africa's post-colonial history.

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