What is performance art?
ALASTAIR MacLENNAN

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It is the resolution of conflict through action.

Alastair MacLennan, 17^th FEB, 2000.


It is the demonstrated wish and will towards resolving inner and outer conflict, be it spiritual,
religious, political, personal, social or cultural, or any interfusion of these.

Alastair MacLennan, 8^th, APR 2011

TWINNING

TOLERANCE

TOKENS

TIDES


ISSUES REMAIN:

ETHICS - AESTHETICS

THE 'OUTSIDER' - POLITICAL / SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

RELIGIOUS / POLITICAL BIGOTRY - INCLUSIVE TOLERANCE

'DERELECTION' AND PUBLIC / PRIVATE RESPONSIBILITY

OPPOSITIONAL OR CONSENSUS MEANS OF POLITICAL / SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT


DEATH - DECAY

NEW LIFE AND MUTATION

TRANSFORMATION


THE WORK INVOLVES:

LOCATION - DISLOCATION

PLACEMENT - DISPLACEMENT

TIME BEING - TIME EDITED

UNDERLYING ISSUES ARE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

THE

RESOLUTION

OF

CONFLICT

THROUGH

ACTION



A. MacLENNAN

RAIN                REIN                REIGN

If we split our thinking we split our world. We have split our world. Many are lost - alienated from "self" and "other". We short- circuit meaning and chase effects without discerning precipitating cause.

A primary function of art is to bridge our spiritual and physical worlds. Through crass materialism we have reduced art to cultural real estate. Actual creativity can be neither bought nor sold, though its husks, shells and skins often are. It is possible in art to use meta systems without over-reliance on physical residue and attendant marketplace hustling, jockeying and squabblings. Art is the demonstrated wish and will to resolve conflict through action, be it spiritual, religious, political, personal, social or cultural. To heal is to make whole.

As well as ecology of natural environment, there is ecology of mind and spirit. Each is a layer of the other, interfused, three in one. The challenge for us today is to live this integration. Already we are late. Time we have is not so vital as time we make.

... MOST INTERESTING WORK (TO THE ARTIST) COMES THROUGH ... THE MARGINAL, THE UNEXPECTED ... NO CONVENTIONAL STAGING, OR SEATED AUDIENCES ... 'ORDINARY' LIVING SITUATIONS (WITH THEIR TREBLE. QUADRUPLE TWISTS) ... EXTREMES OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE ... WORK INVOKING REAL (NOT SYMBOLIC OR METAPHORIC) DOUBT, WONDER AND AWE ... THE USE OF ACTUAL DANGER (PHYSICAL AND MENTAL), CONTRADICTION AND 'ARTLESSNESS'... CONCERN WITH POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL MALFUNCTION ... VICTIMS (AND HOW) ... BOTTOMING OUT OF VALUES ... SPLINTERING OF WHOLE SYSTEMS ... FEEDING FROM LIFE, NOT FROZEN CULTURAL FORMS ... BEING SIMULTANEOUSLY OPPOSITE AND NOT (THREE IS COMPANY, TWO A CROWD) ... SITING WORK OUT OF TRADITIONAL SPACES, THEATRES, GALLERIES, MUSEUMS, CONCERT HALLS, ETC. RE-ACTIVATING THE CONCEPT OF PILGRIMAGE ... GETTING THERE BEING PART OF THE WORK ... UNFIXING THE FIXITY OF TEXT ... WORKING FROM CRACKS IN OLD VESSELS ... MAKING WORK FROM GAPS IN NEW SYSTEMS... USING THE POTENTIAL OF DISTORTION THROUGH MEDIATION... WHAT DOES AND DOESN'T COLLAPSE IN ON ITSELF ... UNCERTAINTY AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT MATTER ... LINKING UP INTER REGIONALLY, GLOBALLY (NOT INTERNATIONALLY)... MAKING ART WITHOUT 'ARTISTS' ... MAKING 'NOTHING' ENGAGING, ENTERTAINING AND PROVOCATIVE ... ESCHEWING ARTIFICE ... PROMOTING WORK WHICH SHOWS FAITH IN THE PRESENT ... WHILE SURFING THROUGH POST MODERNISM, LOCATING PRE MODERN ARCHETYPES WITHIN ... FUSING ACTUAL AND VIRTUAL TIME / SPACES ... ENDEAVOURING TO REALIZE WORK FROM THE UNIMAGINABLE ...


MERGING .. HESITATING ... BOTHERING ... HELPING ... PROTECTING ... STOPPING ... SUPPOSING ... CONSTITUTING ... DISTINGUISHING... SETTLING ... TROUBLING..... POKING ... DISTRACTING ... EMBODYING ... ACCEPTING... RE-ANIMATING ... EXCEEDING ... INDICATING ... STRADDLING ... RE-CALCULATING ... CONVEYING ... FOBGETTING ... TROUBLING ... CONSTITUTING ... ACTIVATING ... QUITING ... DEDICATING ...ELUCIDATING ... HOUSING ...DISAVOWING ... DEEPENING ... LIVING ... PARTNERING ... ENCODING ... ENGENDERING ... ATTEMPTING ... CONFIRMING ... PROPPING ... MOBILISING ... DISAPPEARING ... OBSCURING ... ANCHORING ... EXPECTING ... ACCUSING ... SUSPENDING ... RUSHING ... REPEATING ... CLINGING ... TEASING ... BREAKING ... CATCHING ... THROWING ... TASTING SMELLING ... SHATTERING ... STITCHING ... ENTERING ... OFFERING ... RECOVERING ...RESOLVING ... FAINTING ... TUMBLING ... ROTTING ... SPEEDING ... BURSTING ... ABANDONING ... CARRYING ... LUMBERING ... MATERIALISING ...VANISHING ... IGNORING ... TRUSTING ... DELIVERING ... BURNING ... HAULING ... DECIPHERING ... DEMANDING ... RECUPERATING ... SALVING ... FUELING ... FORFEITING ... DROPPING ... REMINDING ... CRUMBLING ... INHABITATING ... INSISTING ... PROMISING ... REJECTING... CHANGING... CONNECTING ...

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