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".

    Jan Cox

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    ©Collection M HKA, Antwerp / Collection Flemish Community
    Het volk jubelt, 1973
    Jan Cox
    Print , 49 x 60 cm

    Just as in Oh! Those Voices, Boston, 1972, with Het volk jubelt [The People Rejoice] Cox attempts to capture daily experiences through flashes of memories and feelings. Cox often combines experiences with Biblical stories and ancient myths, whereby they surpass the anecdotal and the purely subjective. These are obsessional themes, where drink-induced visions alternate with manifestations of death and doom. The etching Het volk jubelt [The People Rejoice] is part of a series devoted to the story of Judith and Holofernes, a tragic tale about love and death where, just as with Orpheus and Eurydice, just as with the Iliad, woman is cause of conflict and calamity. Using this Biblical story, Cox evokes his relational problems with the opposite sex, while at the same time de-subjectivizing the theme. Beneath the mythic soil bubbles Cox's own narrative: "The basic idea here [of Judith and Holofernes] is that every woman has the potential to be a Judith. Here I don't mean anything negative. I'm just basing myself on my own experience and what I've seen around me. The woman that can seduce, can also kill." 

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