TWENTY-FOUR HOURS

Dublin, Ireland : 1981

Non-stop performance at Projects Arts Centre – midnight to midnight.

24 – 25 April 1981


‘MacLennan walked round the room, standing still occasionally, he did not eat or sleep. The work’s main intention was to present activity without stopping, a form of nonstop ‘culture’. The ensuing ‘discomfort’ was punishment for hubris, but also a sign of commitment on the part of the artist. The old adage that if it hurts it’s worth it received its recycling as a strategy for making art in a society which maims itself endlessly.’

Text from ‘Alastair MacLennan: Is No’, ed. Stephen Snoddy, 1988.