BIRTH DEATH DAY

12 hour non stop performance/installation at The Artists’ Gallery, Buffalo, New York.

4 February 1984

---

For this work a ladder was placed upside down in the centre of the gallery. Scattered on the floor around it were a series of statements, written on paper. The floor was then covered in a layer of snow, which melted and soaked the written statements. MacLennan was dressed in black, and covered with litter – plastic, cardboard, paper. He was silent, either walking around the room or seated in the corner, dragging bricks, timber and other detritus behind him that scraped loudly against the concrete floor. The performance ran from noon to midnight.

‘Expected celebrations did not happen. Instead of party clothing – cardboard, plastic and paper. The ladder, turned upside down, could not elevate anyone or anything.’

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