Alistair MacLennan dressed himself as a target to walk through the streets of Belfast during the troubles. Maclennan’s performance is a piece of social and political commentary on the times of the troubles. MacLennan mentions in the video that he was called names, and generally experienced all types of violence and threatening behaviour in the duration of this performance. These performances took place in a time when no one was making performance based art, something that incidentally has carried on to today. This was potentially an alienating experience for those who experienced it. He mentions that many people cannot understand modern art but yet they can understand that what they see is a human being. I suppose this brings up the case of why performance art can be so effective (incidentally it can be translated as an argument against) in that this extreme feeling of alienation and mistrust would be more difficult to represent as a more recognisable form such as a painting or sculpture.
The performance is an interesting take on NI during the troubles that I think still resonates today. Mistrust, borne from a lack of understanding of the unknown. The fear of modernity, the suspicion that forgetting the past means your enemy have won
Daniel Berry Art 