Middle Gate

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".

Hugo Roelandt

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(c)image: M HKA, Antwerp

Kiek - Vicious Kabaret, 1974

Hugo Roelandt

Photography , 52 x 39.5 cm

photo; ink on paper

Photo series of KIEK, Antwerp theatre group.

"I first met Hugo after a Kiek performance at Ercola on the Wolstraat, a pioneer amongst Antwerp’s art spaces. A poster shows when the meeting took place: 4 May 1974, on the occasion of a multi-art event. Hugo took part in the performance, while I was a member of the loose association of students from the University of Antwerp who were into ‘ happenings’, as the improvised events in Ercola were called. ‘Performance’ was not yet the standard term for this no-man’s-land between art and theatre.

In 9 November 1974, I also took part in performances (plural!) in Aalst by Hugo Roelandt, Mark Verreckt, the members of the Antwerp collective Dr. Buttock’s Players Pool, and local artist William Flips. Not mentioned on the poster was a debutante who would become one of the mainstays of the Antwerp avant-garde: Ria Pacquée. Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (who already signed with AMVK) and Hugo designed the poster."

Marc Holthof, The End is a New Beginning [essay], 2024

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