AUT - Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point, André Stitt and Alastair MacLennan
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Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point, André Stitt and Alastair MacLennan
Twenty Four Hour Performance: Midday, 4 May – Midday 5 May, 2011 Gallery One
Exhibition: 6 May to 3 June, 2011
From Midday 4 May to Midday 5 May, 2011 renowned British performance artists André Stitt and Alastair MacLennan present a live 24-hour collaborative performance work at ST PAUL St Gallery.
Informed by the artists’ time living in Northern Ireland Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point performs experiences of conflict, the legacies of post-colonial identity, memory, recall, departure and arrival. Focusing on the moment of encounter through collaborative activity the artists will activate the gallery space through a combination of performance and installation.
ST PAUL St Gallery will be open for the full 24 hours to allow the public access throughout the duration of the performance. After the performance the residue of the artists’ activity will become the exhibition, operating as an archive of objects that may have no apparent logic once the artists have departed. Visitors may choose to sift through the residue and form their own interactions and conclusions about the materials, their meaning and origin.
Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point is characterised by layering and erasure. The artists work with materials such as paper documents, shoes and display cases in a constant process of accumulation and eradication. In the performance the artists seek to embody memory as live archive through the use of materials and activities identified with their performance practice — including historical documents related to Northern Ireland and live drawing — to create what they refer to as an ‘act-archive’.
“Let’s imagine an archive that better resembles live memory rather than an artificial memorial, a system for collected ephemera, unstable and shifting remains which differ with each recall and are rearranged in relation to contingent circumstances. Things-as-events that behave like performances, open to alterity, decay and tending towards vanishing.” (Paul Clark ‘Archival Events And Eventful Archives’ in Archive City, Interface, University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2008)
André Stitt
www.andrestitt.com
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1958, André Stitt is considered one of Europe's foremost performance and interdisciplinary artists. He is Professor of Performance and Interdisciplinary Art at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and is the director of the Centre for Fine Art Research at Cardiff School of Art & Design, Wales, UK. In 2000 Stitt opened Trace: Installaction Artspace in Cardiff (www.tracegallery.org). In 2005 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and in 2008 he was awarded the prestigious Creative Wales Award.
Alastair MacLennan
www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/resources/AMW.html
Born in Scotland in 1943 and based in Belfast since 1975 Alastair Maclennan is recognised as one of Britain's major practitioners in live/performance art and is Research Professor in Fine Art at the School of Art and Design, University of Ulster in Belfast. He is a member of the European Performance Group 'Black Market International' and was a founder member of Belfast's Art and Research Exchange & BBeyond Artists Collective. MacLennan represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 1997.
Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point is supported by the British Council.
Exhibition: 6 May to 3 June, 2011
From Midday 4 May to Midday 5 May, 2011 renowned British performance artists André Stitt and Alastair MacLennan present a live 24-hour collaborative performance work at ST PAUL St Gallery.
Informed by the artists’ time living in Northern Ireland Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point performs experiences of conflict, the legacies of post-colonial identity, memory, recall, departure and arrival. Focusing on the moment of encounter through collaborative activity the artists will activate the gallery space through a combination of performance and installation.
ST PAUL St Gallery will be open for the full 24 hours to allow the public access throughout the duration of the performance. After the performance the residue of the artists’ activity will become the exhibition, operating as an archive of objects that may have no apparent logic once the artists have departed. Visitors may choose to sift through the residue and form their own interactions and conclusions about the materials, their meaning and origin.
Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point is characterised by layering and erasure. The artists work with materials such as paper documents, shoes and display cases in a constant process of accumulation and eradication. In the performance the artists seek to embody memory as live archive through the use of materials and activities identified with their performance practice — including historical documents related to Northern Ireland and live drawing — to create what they refer to as an ‘act-archive’.
“Let’s imagine an archive that better resembles live memory rather than an artificial memorial, a system for collected ephemera, unstable and shifting remains which differ with each recall and are rearranged in relation to contingent circumstances. Things-as-events that behave like performances, open to alterity, decay and tending towards vanishing.” (Paul Clark ‘Archival Events And Eventful Archives’ in Archive City, Interface, University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2008)
André Stitt
www.andrestitt.com
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1958, André Stitt is considered one of Europe's foremost performance and interdisciplinary artists. He is Professor of Performance and Interdisciplinary Art at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and is the director of the Centre for Fine Art Research at Cardiff School of Art & Design, Wales, UK. In 2000 Stitt opened Trace: Installaction Artspace in Cardiff (www.tracegallery.org). In 2005 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and in 2008 he was awarded the prestigious Creative Wales Award.
Alastair MacLennan
www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/resources/AMW.html
Born in Scotland in 1943 and based in Belfast since 1975 Alastair Maclennan is recognised as one of Britain's major practitioners in live/performance art and is Research Professor in Fine Art at the School of Art and Design, University of Ulster in Belfast. He is a member of the European Performance Group 'Black Market International' and was a founder member of Belfast's Art and Research Exchange & BBeyond Artists Collective. MacLennan represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 1997.
Spectral Arc: Vanishing Point is supported by the British Council.
Last updated: 02 May 2011 10:30am