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".

Ricardo Brey

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(c)photo: Courtesy Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede. Collectie Roel Arkesteijn

Signs in the Dust, 2000

Ricardo Brey

Installation , 130 x 140 x 180 cm

glass case, lion skin, mattress, pillows, covers, ventilator, buttons, metal coins and jewels

"Even when real animal skulls are used there is no introduction of death. Animals have their say here. They do not call for conservation or for a return to nature. According to the artist, Paradise is a thing of the past. 'Animals do something we have lost,' he says. 'We call it instinct. Animals are free. We are not, because we have the society and culture. We are very complex animals.' He opts for animals with a strong reference power."

(source: Veugen, C., De Bezweringen van Ricardo Brey: Het paradijs behoort tot het verleden. In: Kunstbeeld, Nr. 5, 1999, p. 12.)

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