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".
Bruikleen Bart De Baere, image: (c) M HKA
White is the colour of peace, of stillness, but may perhaps also signify the resignation evident in Johan Tahon's oeuvre. In a way, his images are never finished and most definitely never achieve perfection. They sum up the tragic beauty of existence, the realisation that there is always something missing, that the search is an endless one, and that the universe conceals so much that only the futility of human existence remains.
