καιρός remembered

The peephole

In 2011, Alexander Yuzef created an installation comprising several small black boxes, in which two eyes gaze at you through a rectangular peephole. On either side of the peephole is a mirror positioned at a 45° angle. If you move slightly in front of the box, you can see the reflections of what is behind and to the side of you moving in the mirrors.
Yuzef called his installation ‘I Don’t Want To Go Out’, in which he appears to portray himself as the person looking out through the peephole, thereby turning the viewer into the observed. A reversal of the usual situation.
Yuzef’s installation was on display at this year’s Kochi Biennale. Because of the rectangular black peephole, I couldn’t shake the impression that I was face to face with a woman in a niqab.

Photos of the week: Alexander Yuzef, “I Don’t Want To Go Out”, 2011, 6th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India 2026