Alastair MacLennan and Marie Phelan will present a convergence of art and placement through a live drawing collaboration that considers the interplay between otherness and the creative subconscious. This collaboration serves as a bridge between the Lab Gallery’s internal space and the surrounding non-gallery environment, using the windows as a canvas. The action itself reveals the artistic process while inviting the public to witness the creation unfolding without having to enter the gallery. As the artwork evolves, the windows transform into a central focal point, blurring the lines between the internal and the external, while fostering a dialogue with the passerby.

Alastair MacLennan was born in Scotland and has lived and worked in Belfast, N. Ireland, since 1975. His achievements as an artist have had a significant influence on performance art, nationally and internationally. Performing in diverse contexts, his works convey political, social and cultural conditions. His Actuations (performance/installations) seek to fuse interrelations.

His works have (also) been presented as part of Black Market International (in Europe, America, Canada, Asia, Mexico, etc.), by Trace Gallery, Cardiff, by the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow, by Le Lieu, Quebec, by Bone International Performance Art Festival, Bern and through NIPAF in Japan. He represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 1997. He has works in private collections in America, Canada, Italy, Poland, Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales and in the public collection of the British Arts Council, England.

He has received support for his works from national and international funding bodies, including AHRB (Arts and HumanitiesResearch Board), Arts Council of N. Ireland, University of Ulster, Arts Council of Canada and the Scottish Education Department. He won the Visual Arts Category of the Belfast Arts Awards ( ’98 ) and is a recipient of a London Performance Award for outstanding creative achievement ( ’88 ), in association with Dance Umbrella and Time Out Magazine. MacLennan is currently Emeritus Professor of Fine Art, from the University of Ulster, Belfast, an Honorary Fellow of Dartington College of Art, Devon and an Honorary Associate of the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow.

Marie Phelan is a multidisciplinary artist whose focus lies in the realms of transformation, magic, and belief. Through a mythological landscape, she examines historical cultures, providing a framework for contemplating contemporary society and identity. Her work takes the form of drawing, site explorations, audio, moving image, and installations. Currently her research is centred on cultural histories, mythologies, archaeologies, and the teachings of Magical Societies.

Most recently she was resident at Fire Station Artist Studios, Dublin through a Digital Practice Award (2023) and exhibited at the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Co. Louth (2023). She has also exhibited at 126 Gallery & Studios, Galway (2023); Castletown House, Kildare (2021); The Lab Gallery, Dublin (2020), The Complex, Dublin (2017); Sculpture in Context, Dublin (2016) and held residencies in the past at Cill Rialaig Arts Centre, Kerry (2023) and Paragon Studios, Belfast (2022).Her work has been supported by the Arts Council Ireland, Carlow Arts Service, Creative Ireland, Artlinks and Kildare Arts Service.

She holds an MA in Art and Research Collaboration through IADT.