Endurance Performance

For my endurance performance, I chose to show how we appear when we perform the daily ritual of watching television. We essentially become a blank wall. I became a television facing a blank wall for three hours, virtually unmoving (except to change poses in the chair where I was sitting when I needed to).
It was extremely difficult for me to stay in the same spot for three hours even though I was able to shift a bit, especially with the cardboard television on my head. My sight was taken away from me (there were no holes in the TV) which I suppose doubled as facing a fear (I am very afraid of losing my sight!).
In comparison to actually watching TV, sitting in the chair doing absolutely nothing for that amount of time was certainly a task. When we watch TV, time seems to fly by as we have something to focus our brains on. During my performance I found my mind wandering, trying to think of stories and other useless things in order to make the time go by faster.

Critical Analysis

For Alex Kozachek's endurance performance, he had the audience first view the piece looking down from atop the stairs in the Miller building near Earth Cloud. At first glance the viewer looks down to see what appears to be a small boy sitting in a corner of the vast, tall building. The contrast is overwhelming between the size of the building, the scenery outside of the windows near the boy and the boy himself. Moving closer, the boy in the piece is realized to actually be much older than previously thought due to the forced perspective. He is sitting extremely still not moving from his chair in the corner, facing the corner and ignoring his audience.

I really enjoyed this piece partly because Alex himself seemed to be an installation. He was so motionless that if I hadn't known beforehand that he would be performing this piece, I would have thought he was a statue. Also, the way that he first appeared extremely small in comparison to his surroundings relating to the child's punishment of "time-out" really resonated with me. Alex exaggerated the "time-out" by doing it for three hours and placing himself in a position that would make him seem small. Personally, I focused right in on Alex rather than anything else surrounding him (such as the tall windows/scenery) even though I was very much aware they were there. Outside distractions were not an issue. I found myself wanting to stay longer than I did with the piece due to sheer curiosity; I wanted to see if Alex would move at all, perhaps shift a little to break his statuesque demeanor. Overall, Alex did a great job with not only carefully planning this piece, but also carrying it out effectively to get his point across.

Endurance Piece Proposal

I, Kirsty Reeves, will be in Cohen Studio sitting in a chair facing the blank wall for three hours on Friday, April 23rd. I will be completely dressed in white with a (cardboard) television on my head. The purpose of this piece is not only to re-enact a daily ritual, but to become a TV and show that we become a blank wall when we watch it. I will not be allowed to interact with anyone or move from the chair for the full three hours. I will, however, be able to change poses (to ones that we take on while watching TV).

Sonic Postcard Remix

Sonic Postcard Remix from Kirsty Reeves on Vimeo.

Sonic Postcard

Sonic Postcard from Kirsty Reeves on Vimeo.

Kinetic Sculpture: "Replicating Nature"

The simple purpose for this motor-powered installation is to portray how the beauty of natural movement in organic forms cannot be replicated with man-made materials. Mechanical movement is robotic and stiff while nature’s movement are smooth (and in the case of a blooming flower, undetectable).

Kinetic Sculpture: "Replicating Nature" from Kirsty Reeves on Vimeo.

Automata

My automaton's concept was this: in life, you don't always win. In fact, you probably won't (3/4 of the time). I exhibited this concept by constructing a box that is reminiscent of a fortune teller booth painted black with a black "curtain" in the back. The front of the automata features a large circular hole that the viewer can look into and see their "fortune".
In the center of the automaton is a hanging box that features four sides ("no", "no", "no", "yes"). The idea is that the viewer would turn the crank at the top and would be given their "fortune" with one small turn of the box. For my gears I chose to create a Geneva Stop not only because I liked the intermittent motion, but because it fit my concept well.
Constructing my gears was very difficult using cardboard. Because the Geneva Stop motion requires very smooth surfaces to function correctly, my automaton did not always work. The gears would trip up often and I'd have go back in and reset them. I try to fix the them to make them work 100% of the time but it was near impossible with the cardboard. In turn, the technical skill in this project was sacrificed for the concept of the piece.

Personal Record of Time

For this assignment, I decided to record everything I ate over the course of a 24-hour period of time through the use of photos. However, I didn't simply just take a photo of everything I consumed; in some photos I tried to convey what time it was using natural light. In others I wanted to show the setting in which the food was eaten. Trying to convey these ideas worked well for some images and not for others.