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.