Alastair MacLennan represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale, commemorating names of all those who lost their lives as a result of the Political Troubles in N. Ireland. Over the years he's made some long durational performances, of up to 144 hours each, some 'non-stop', involving no eating or sleeping throughout. Subject matter dealt with political, social, and cultural malfunction. He was a founding member of Belfast's Art and Research Exchange and is a founding member of Belfast's Bbeyond performance art organization. He ran the first Master of Arts (MA) fine art course in Ulster Polytechnic and is now an Emeritus Professor of fine art from the University of Ulster. Zen practice has influenced his art-making throughout the last 45 years, during which he's travelled extensively to Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, America and Canada, presenting Actuations (performance/installations). Also, he's a long time member of the European performance art entity, Black Market International. He's said  "...As well as ecology of natural environment, there's ecology of mind and spirit, each an integrated aspect of the other. Our challenge today is to 'live' this. Time we have is not so vital as time we 'take'. Time is now."