BIRTH DEATH DAY

12 hour non-stop performance/installation at Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.

11 February 1984

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A wooden ladder was suspended upside down in the middle of the space; around it hung the heads of various animals – sheep, pigs, fish. A horizontal line of black tape divided the walls at eye level. A rectangle of cinder blocks – each topped by a disposable cup balanced on a sheet of paper – surrounded the hanging ladder, and framed the floor that was strewn with sheets of typing paper. Some sheets were blank, others contained text. MacLennan was dressed in black, with a sheet bound around his head and shoes adorning his body.

‘MacLennan recalls that the righthand section of the space had photographs of heroin victims displayed. He took the decision to make something related in his space opposite. […] Covering his body with sheeting and attached shoes of both children and adults, he was ‘victim’ and mourning survivor.’

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