Actional Poetics – ASH SHE HE

Description

A retrospective monograph of Alistair MacLennan’s performance art practice, its influence on the Belfast art scene, and its relationships with wider art histories. This new book is the most comprehensive and complete legacy monograph about Alastair MacLennan’s extensive performance practice

Alastair MacLennan is emeritus professor of fine art, School of Art and Design, Ulster University in Belfast. He is one of Britain’s major practitioners in live art, and travels extensively in Eastern and Western Europe, also America and Canada, presenting ‘Actuations’ (his term for performance/installations).  MacLennan is a founding member of Belfast's Art and Research Exchange, of Belfast's Bbeyond performance collective and is a member of the performance art entity Black Market International. He has represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale (1997) and is an honorary associate of the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow, Scotland.

There is a wide variety of approach in the essays, ranging from descriptive to interpretive. Some set the work in historical context and others provide pertinent biography. This variety is appropriate – and perhaps even necessary – in looking at the work of a living artist whose work is particularly complex. The selection of essays presents a complex body of work in an understandable way, with each writer allowed to address the art in their own terms. Placing the work in historical context is important but presenting MacLennan as an influential teacher is also important.

Includes a significant contribution from Adrian Heathfield (professor of performance and visual culture at Roehampton, UK) who has written an extended essay on MacLennan’s oeuvre, focusing on its use of materials and its creation of sculptural environments. Discussing the artist’s deployment of slow-time action and contemplative space, Heathfield sees MacLennan’s work as activating sustained contact with the elemental and locates MacLennan’s work as a significant intervention in performance art history globally and discusses the politics of its engagement with local history, violence, social conflict and memory.

The primary readership will be academics, researchers and scholars working in performance art and contemporary art in general. Also valuable to students in performance art, visual arts and related practices.

Of relevance to academics and artists in the interrelated fields of performance art, art and philosophy, critical theory, conflict studies and Zen philosophy.

List of Illustrations

 

Introduction: Actional Poetics – ASH SHE HE: The Performance Actuations of Alastair MacLennan, 1971–2018

Sandra Johnston and Paula Blair

 

Alastair MacLennan: Troubled time

Nick Stewart

 

‘Maybe you don’t need the paintbrush…?’ In conversation

Declan McGonagle and Alastair MacLennan

 

Elemental qualities in the work of Alastair MacLennan

Denys Blacker

 

Sensible transcendence

Chérie Driver

 

Alastair MacLennan: A life seen as a form of pedagogy

Brian Connolly

 

‘Sometimes you need help from other people’s ghosts’: Alastair MacLennan’s multi-disciplinary and ‘instituting’ practice as civil action

Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes

 

Alastair MacLennan: Universal nomad

Nigel Rolfe

 

Actuations: Alastair MacLennan’s influence on Bbeyond

Brian Patterson

 

Tender dwelling in the strewn

Adrian Heathfield

 

What shall we ask for? Considering the transformative moment in Alastair MacLennan’s Actuations

Sandra Johnston

 

Death, transience and duration – Alastair MacLennan

Helge Meyer

 

Proximity and perpetrators: Reflecting on implications of registering perpetrators in the performance art of Alastair MacLennan

Dominic Thorpe

 

Triple-AAA: Alastair MacLennan, Adrian Hall & André Stitt

Spectral Arc, Vanishing Point and Memoranda: Hauntology and atemporality in performances 2011–13

André Stitt

 

Precarious aftermaths

Paula Blair

 

Notes on Contributors 

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des arts visuels
• ART
• Performance
• General
• General officer
• Performance art
• Live Art
• Performing Arts
• Artists
• Essays

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789383744
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 66 Mo

Extrait

Actional Poetics – ASH SHE HE

First published in the UK in 2021 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2021 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2021 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover image: Right Here Right Now , 2012, Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland. Photograph: © Joseph Carr Photography.
Copy editor: NewGen Knowledgeworks Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas Production manager: Jelena Stanovnik Typesetter: Aleksandra Szumlas
Print ISBN 9781789383720 ePDF ISBN 9781789383737 ePub ISBN 9781789383744
Printed and bound by Gomer, UK.
Published in collaboration with Bbeyond.
To find out about all our publications, please visit www.intellectbooks.com. There you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue, and buy any titles that are in print.
Contents
List of Illustrations and Photographic Credits
Foreword
Sandra Johnston, Chérie Driver and Brian Patterson
Foreword
Robert McDowell
Acknowledgements
Ash She He: The Substance of Memory
Paula Blair, Matthew Hearn and Sandra Johnston
Tender Dwelling in the Strewn Adrian Heathfield
‘Maybe you don’t need the paintbrush…’:
In Conversation
Declan McGonagle and Alastair MacLennan
Troubled Time
Nick Stewart
Alastair MacLennan: A Life Seen as a Form of Pedagogy
Brian Connolly
‘Sometimes you need help from other people’s ghosts’: Alastair MacLennan’s Multidisciplinary and ‘Instituting’ Practice as Civil Action
Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes
Elemental Qualities in the Work of Alastair MacLennan
Denys Blacker
Alastair MacLennan: Universal Nomad Nigel Rolfe
Actuations: Alastair MacLennan’s Influence on Bbeyond
Brian Patterson
Triple-AAA: Alastair MacLennan, Adrian Hall and André Stitt: Spectral Arc , Vanishing Point and Memoranda – Hauntology and Atemporality in Performances, 2011–13
André Stitt
Moments of Being: Echoes, Reverberations and Experiential Knowing
Chérie Driver
Death, Transience and Duration Helge Meyer
Proximity and Perpetrators: Registering Perpetrators in the Performance Art of Alastair MacLennan
Dominic Thorpe
Precarious Aftermaths Paula Blair
Straying: Engendering a Feral Imagination Sandra Johnston
References
Select Biography of Works
Notes on Contributors
List of Illustrations and Photographic Credits
All works titles are in italics and classified as Actuation (Performance/Installation) unless otherwise stated. All photos are Courtesy of the Alastair MacLennan Archive, DJCAD, University of Dundee, unless otherwise stated.
Page ii : Untitled Ongoing Studio Drawing , thinned black oil paint, turps and water. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page iv : Untitled Ongoing Studio Drawing , thinned black oil paint, turps and water. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page vi : Untitled Ongoing Studio Drawing , thinned black oil paint, turps, water and charcoal. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page xvii : Untitled Ongoing Studio Drawing , thinned black oil paint, turps, water and charcoal. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page xiv : Untitled Ongoing Studio Drawing , thinned black oil paint, turps, water and charcoal. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page xvi : Untitled Ongoing Studio Drawing , black Indian ink, water and charcoal. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Pages xviii-xix : Untitled Ongoing Studio exploration of materials , latex gloves, ribbons, safety pins. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page 1 : Right Here Right Now , 2012, Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland. Photograph: © Joseph Carr Photography.
Page 2 : Twenty Four Hours , 1981, Project Arts Centre Dublin, Ireland. Photographer unknown.
Page 3 : Pam Amp , 2011, New Territories,Tipa: this is performance art, Triple Kirks, Peacock Visual Arts Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. Photograph: © Jürgen Fritz, www.i-pa.org.
Page 4 : Coal a Goal , 2015, Arctic Action: International Action Art Festival, Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway. Photograph: Stein Henningsen.
Page 5 : Black Market International, 2 Performances, 2005, Bone Festival 8, Schlachthaus Theatre, Bern, Switzerland. Photograph: Martin Rindlisbacher, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Black Kit Archive, ASA European, Cologne, Germany.
Page 6 : Black Market International, 2 Performances, 2010, Bone 13, Schlachthaus Theatre, Bern, Switzerland. Photograph: Daniela Beltrani, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Black Kit Archive, ASA European, Cologne, Germany.
Page 7 and 8 : Days and Nights , 1981, Acme Gallery, London, England. Photographer unknown.
Page 9 and 10 : Unseeing Trace , 1999, Trace, Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary International Art, Liverpool, England. Photographer unknown.
Page 11 and 12 : Pael , 1997, First International Performance Festival Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik Odense, Denmark. Photographer unknown.
Page 13 and 14 : Coil to Met , 2009, Locus+ Orchard Street, Newcastle England. Photograph: © Locus+ Archive. Photographer: Colin Davison.
Page 15 and 16 : And to Sand , 2015, Contexts 5th International Sokołowsko Festival of Ephemeral Art, Sokołowsko, Poland. Photographer unknown.
Page 17 and 18 : Berth An Earth , 2015, Hosptialfield, Arbroath, Scotland. Photographer unknown.
Page 19 , 20 , 21 and 22 : Target , 1977, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photographer unknown.
Page 23 , 24 and 25 : Hanging, 1981, Cresent Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photographer unknown.
Page 26 : Hand to And , 2015, Performance Art + Northern Ireland, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page 41 and 42 : Mael ,1996, New Moves , Nationals Review of Live Art , Glasgow, Scotland. Photographer unknown.
Page 43 : Twenty Four Hours , 1981, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland. Photographer unknown.
Page 46 : Lain Nail , 2012, Marco Museum of Contemporary Art, Vigo, Spain. Photograph: MARCO/Janite.
Page 49 and 50 : Coil to Met , 2009, Locus+ Orchard Street, Newcastle England. Photograph: © Locus+ Archive. Photographer: Colin Davison.
Page 74 and 76 : Bust as Dust , 2019, Somatic Distortion: Performance Art Event, Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Ireland. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page 77 and 78 : Seam Same , 1994, Irish Days 2, Ustka, Poland. Photograph: Sandra Johnston.
Page 79 and 80 : Body of (B)Light , 2007, Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff, Wales. Photographer unknown.
Page 81 and 82 : Words Sword , 1998, Irish Days 5, Baltic Art Centre, Ustka, Poland. Photograph: Waldemar Michorzewski.
Page 83 and 84 : Alientegration , 1983, Franklin Furnace Gallery, New York, U.S.A. Photographer unknown.
Page 85 and 86 : Killskill , 2009, Naughton Gallery, Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Brian Patterson.
Page 87 and 88 : Opean , 2019, Einstein Str., 4Z, Munich, Germany. Photographer unknown.
Page 89 and 90 : Hand to And , 2015, Performance Art + Northern Ireland, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings.
Page 91 , 92 , 93 and 94 : Lay Allude , 2016, collaboration with Sandra Johnston, Bolit Contemporary Arts Centre, Girona, Spain. Photograph: Denys Blacker.
Page 95 : Black Market International, 1992, 4 Performances, Wesserstrasse, Alte Reithalle, Kassel, Germany. Photographic image copyright of artists and courtesy of Black Kit Archive, ASA European, Cologne, Germany.
Page 96 : Black Market International, 1997, 2 Performances, Stadtgalerie, Bern, and Liquid Visions' International Symposium of Science, Lucern, Switzerland. Photograph: Martin Rindlisbacher, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Black Kit Archive, ASA European, Cologne, Germany.
Page 97 : No In , 1997, Inner Art, Fire Station Artists Studios, Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, Ireland. Photographer unknown.
Page 104 : Target , 1977, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photographer unknown.
Page 125 , 126 , 127 and 128 : Bag to Prague , 1989, Performance Festival , Prague, Czechoslovakia. Photographer unknown.
Page 129 and 130 : Holding Time III, 2014, Bbeyond, Stormont, Parliament Buildings, Belfast, NI. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Bbeyond.
Page 131 , 132 , 133 and 134 : Gale A Gael , 2016, Future Histories, Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland. Photograph: © Joseph Carr Photography.
Page 135 , 136 , 137 and 138 : Alastair MacLennan: Actuations and Other Works, 2019, Dundee archive exhibition, University of Dundee. Photograph: Malcolm Finnie.
Page 139 : Same Difference: Equinox to Equinox , Sept, 2016, Bbeyond, Lagan weir, Belfast, NI. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Bbeyond.
Page 140 : Bbeyond Performance Monthly meeting , 2015, Helen’s Bay, Co. Down, NI. Photograph:Jordan Hutchings, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Bbeyond.
Page 141 : Student Workshop , 1975, Queens University and streets from Art College, Belfast, NI. Photograph: Adrian Hall.
Page 142 : Operation Ambassadors , 2006, Richard Martel Workshop Presentation, Bbeyond, from Black Box to City Hall returning via Royal Ave, Belfast, NI. Photograph: Siobhan Mullen, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Bbeyond.
Page 143 : Operation Ambassadors , 2007, Boris Nieslony Workshop Presentation, Bbeyond, Custom House Square, Belfast, NI. Photograph: Siobhan Mullen, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Bbeyond.
Page 144 : On the Way … Bbeyond project, Group performance, 2020, Marcus Square, Newry, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Jordan Hutchings, image copyright of artists and courtesy of Bbeyond.
Page 145 : Performance Monthly meeting , 2016, St.