Performance Critical Analysis

Alexander Kozacheck's piece was an effective endurance performance in communicating the emotive implications of juvenile punishment. The artist was dressed in semi-casual attire and sat hunched and facing the corner of a white wall. These simple elements contributed to the idea of a young schoolchild being reprimanded. He also strategically placed himself on a stool at the bottom of a expansive staircase. The result was a powerful implementation of forced perspective. The artist looked insignificant, subordinate, and almost forgotten at the bottom of the staircase. By positioning the audience at a higher altitude, Alex allowed viewers the role of superiors; adults. By exposing his back to the audience, Alex also (whether intentionally or not) forfeited the control and awareness of his surroundings to the audience.

The piece fits the "endurance" concept very well. One can imagine the excruciating strain on the back and loss of blood in the legs from trying to sit perfectly still on a stool for three hours. There is also the aspect of mental fatigue, or becoming anxious and weary. It took no convincing to understand the discipline involved in achieving that kind of extended stillness, as anyone could relate to. Thus, the piece was easy to appreciate as well as interesting to witness.

I personally felt pity in viewing the performance (especially the closer I came down the stairs), which is certainly what Alex was hoping to evoke when he addresses in his performance statement: "I will be attempting to recreate a punishment often used on children to show the Barbarity of the punishment used on children." This pity was enhanced as I walked back up the stairs, leaving the patient sufferer alone to bear his "punishment".