Resilience

In 2004, Mac was selected as a Royal Scottish Academy Artist, and was invited to showcase his artwork in the National Galleries of Scotland. This was Mac’s second second consecutive selection for that honor, the first of which exposed him to a wider array of contemporary Scottish artists than he had previously known. That experience inspired his month-long unscripted performance titled Resilience, which centered on the story of a sink he had found on the side of the road while walking back to his flat from the studio late one evening.

Resilience intentionally sought to disrupt the gallery space and engage visitors in conversation about personal, cultural, and creative matters. The performance explored the diversity and merit of creative expression, and asked visitors to consider the nature of fear, subjective perception, and our value systems. Mac proactively engaged attendees from the outset of the performance and made their questions and observations the through-line for the performance.

Mac performed Resilience for one hour every day for the four weeks of the Royal Scottish Academy exhibition. “It was crazy, wild, terrifying, hilarious and beautiful,” says Mac. “I’ll never forget some of those conversations. From casual gallery-visitors to tourists and aspiring artists, there was something intrinsically relevant for everyone who saw it. That was kind of the point. It was exhilerating to a part of, and I think participants felt that.”