Alastair MacLennan

Work with Live Art Danmark
2015 Group performance with Black Market International and solo performance “Rust a Gust” at Kulstof 15, Aalborg

“Rust a Gust”
As a member of the performance group “Black Market International“, Alastair participated in our performance program “Kulstof 15, The Body as Process and Image” in November 2015. He also presented an impressive solo performance, “Rust a Gust”. Outside, in the semi dark of a November night in Aalborg, he manipulated a collection of natural objects, including water, twigs, stones and strings, as well as artists materials, paper and ink on a table covered in white cloth. Simple manipulations and movement, but mostly focus and an almost uncanny personal presence let these simple things come to life in almost magical ways that the video below can only give a vague impression of.

About the Artist
Alastair MacLennan, born 1943 in Blair Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland, is one of Britain’s major practitioners of live art. Since 1975, he is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was a founder member of Belfast’s Art and Research Exchange and is member of the performance art collective Black Market International (BMI).

Alastair studied at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design of the University of Dundee in 1960-65. 1966-68 he received his Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. He now is Emeritus Professor in Fine Art, University of Ulster in Belfast, Honorary Fellow of the Dartington College of Arts, Devon, and Honorary Associate of the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow.

MacLennan’s live work is prevailingly long durational. During the 1970s and 1980s he presented long durational performances of up to 144 hours in Britain and America. His work looks into political, social, religious, ethical and aesthetical questions. For his performances and installations, he uses the term “Actuations”.

Read more about the artist on Alastair McLennan’s personal webpage or on Wikipedia.