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".

    Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven / AMVK

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    (c)image: AMVK
    Carrel 1 (Enigma), 2014
    Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven / AMVK
    Installation , 240 x 201 x 62 cm
    cabinet and mirror

    "A carrel is a kind of separated cupboard that also serves as a database – it’s a moving study table. In the Middle Ages, carrels were found in monastic libraries, where monks used them to isolate themselves from the environment's noise.

    The first carrel I made for a crematorium, the next three were for an exhibition at Zeno X Gallery. They were shown together with large PVC collages, based on quotations from the mystic Marguerite Porete and on Karol Szymanowski’s composing manner. Each of the carrels stands for a step in the development of data processing machines: they are computers, in other words.

    Their titles are: Enigma, Colossus, Connection Machine and Coromandel Disturbed 1 and 2. The first was an encoding machine, the second a decoding machine, and the third was launched as a revolutionary idea to put the processing system (the processor) precisely where the information is stored: in the memory. This way, the memory becomes the processor in the computer. I drew a parallel to the stages of a human life."

    − AMVK

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