Alasdair MacLennan Pore Rope 1998
The Bridge , Construction and process (VI ) at the Old Power Station Melbourne
Performance 10.00AM to 10.00PM  on 29th March 1998

Construction and Process is an artist conceived and organised Biennale that began in �odz, Poland and travels to a different venue each time.  As the name implies it is more about process and site than museum spaces.

In 1998 it came to Melbourne or more particularly to the industrial and port area around the suburb of Footscray.  The works were scattered along the canal in old factories and warehouses or simply nestled under bridges in this somewhat derelict part of the city.

In the old Newport Powerhouse there was a 12-hour performance by Alistair MacLennan starting at 10.00AM and ending at 10.00PM.  I finally got there late in the evening; it was a bleak but impressive site.  The abandoned building had the great height typical of powerhouses; the concrete columns were covered in layers of graffiti - testament to its abandonment but also of its marginal occupation.   Along the full length of the old turbine hall there was a long table covered with white tablecloths and in the dim light it was clearly set for a macabre banquet.  A black balloon pinned to the tablecloth marked each place setting.  The dinner was arranged ready for the feast, it consisted of raw pigs heads and raw fish garnished with tickertape inscribed with Irish names.

In the murky atmosphere one became aware of a human presence, a figure heavily dressed with the head obscured by a black balaclava.   The figure was intoning endlessly a list of names individual by individual family by family the names of the victims of violence on the streets of Northern Ireland. 

The length of the list of names already carried an emotional load however the sight and smell of the pigs heads provided a powerful index of mortality that pushed intellectual understanding over the edge into terrifying empathy.  The atmospheric quality of the building and the palimpsest of scrawlings by successive marginalized occupants somehow connived with the installation to make this an exemplary site specific performance.

Anthony Bond
Head Curator