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".

    Ria Pacquée

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    FROM MY ROTTING BODY, FLOWERS SHALL GROW AND I AM IN THEM AND THAT IS ETERNITY, 2014
    Ria Pacquée
    Multiple
    photo print on barite paper, wooden shelf, flower pot in terra cotta, ground, dymo lettering

    The Belgian photographer Ria Pacquée makes herself the subject of her works in the most extraordinary situations. The title From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity refers on the one hand to the famous quote of Thomas Moore, which was later also used by Edvard Munch, and on the other to a performance that Pacquee did in 2014, when ‘Picnic at Hanssenpark’, an exhibition of Danny Devos in De Pont, Bruges. Pacqué ends her performance by burying her head in sand. For this edition, the artist throws dirt in her face multiple times, and takes pictures of the result. Although the flowerpot is only filled with potting soil, one expects, it would be watered regularly. The scene changes the importance of this philosophical reflection in a light-footed confrontation with mortality.

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