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".

Mark Manders

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Fragment uit zelfportret als gebouw [Fragment from self-portrait as a building], 1994

Mark Manders

Drawing , 120 x 155 cm

graphite, paper

Dutch sculptor Mark Manders, living in Belgium for some time, has been working for a number of years on his so-called Zelfportret als gebouw, an imaginary building to house his dreams, thoughts and memories. M HKA owns a few ‘fragments’ of this self-portrait: two pencil drawings, one sculpture and one installation. The two latter are assemblages of small objects. Matches, batteries or pencils have been rendered useless by the ‘wrong’ adjustments. The display and content of the house always vary, just like Manders’s own thoughts. A piece by him can function alone, but is always also part of a greater whole, a personal interpretation of the world, an oeuvre. Thus each of his works is a fragment of a building, a self-portrait, a self-portrait as building. Zelfportret als gebouw is a work-in-progress. When the things in the building are differently ordered, the identity of its creator (or at least our view of it) also changes. Manders’s oeuvre can be seen as a quest for an ever-changing, ever-evolving identity.

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