Princess Nocturne

The project “House of impressions — classic and contemporary media art” at Golitsyn Manor was a meeting point of nineteen outstanding 20th and 21st century video and media artists, such as Chantal Akerman, Mona Hatoum, Irina Nakhova, Bruce Nauman, Bill Viola. It was dedicated to the collision of the past and present, to the innovative processes that took place in the 20^th century connected to the ‘liberation’ of artistic tools and mediums. Video work “Princess Nocturne” by Tanya Akhmetgalieva was commissioned for this project.

“Princess Nocturne” stands as a poignant video installation dedicated to the memory of Princess Avdotya Golitsina. Following a prophetic utterance by a fortune teller prognosticating her demise during slumber, the princess elected to forsake nighttime rest, earning her the moniker “Princess Nocturne”.

In a bid to defy her predestined fate, the princess, instead of surrendering to sleep, transformed her nights into periods of domestic industry, hosting guests, curating literary salons, and engaging in impassioned dialogues. Her gaze, marked by an irrational dread of mortality, ascends heavenward, reaching towards the ceiling, where it alights upon a composition of a meticulously arranged and harmonious garden.

A succession of images, akin to digital frescoes, traverse the continuum of time, plunging us into the recesses of our own reminiscences and sentiments. Within Tanya Akhmetgalieva’s oeuvre, the world materializes in an altered state — as though it has undergone a ruthless retransmission through the lens of chromatic filters.

By employing intensely vibrant hues, deformation, and the dissolution of pixels, Akhmetgalieva weaves a narrative detailing the intricate interplay between contemporary individuals and their reality; an exploration of their estrangement from both the external world and their internal selves.

Voices:

P.N. — Princess Nocturne

E II — Catherine II

F. — Fate

F.T.M.L. — The fortune teller Marie Anne Lenorman

A.S.P. — Alexander Sergeevitch Pushkin

D.A.F.d.S. — Donasen Alphonse Francois de Sade

P. — Plato

1

[The road to yourself through doors leading from Nowhere to Nowhere]

P.N. — Well, which of the roads leads to yourself?

E II — Which of them does not lead to yourself? In this house there are too many doors, I ordered half of them to be hidden, as if they had never existed at all… And what if at least behind one of them there’s nothing at all?

2

[The hinges of escape from destiny]

P.N. — This is a sign of destiny…

F. — The signs of destiny are not mine, they are yours. They are a dislocation

of your shattered soul. Day and night on the hinges of a door.

P.N. — A note on the door is a sign that it’s time to flee.

F. — I’m not there, from where are you running, and there, where you’re going. Wherever you might run … day or night …

3

[Faith is inclined to predictions]

P.N. — How can I not believe that I’m not going to die in my sleep, at night? It would seem that there’s nothing terrible in that kind of death, except for the fact that death itself is terrible… (puzzled) What’s it like, beyond that door? Is there nothing there?

F.T.M.L. — (whispers) I seal the future … your faith closes the door behind it. Do you think that your faith in predictions is my affair? Well, I do not.

Your faith rests on the faith of others. You cannot not believe, supposing that others believe.

P.N. — The ghosts with whom we speak — are they messengers of the night world, or a figment of my imagination?

F.T.M.L. — (whispers) They are the witnesses of faith.

4

[Fate swerves from the course of fate ]

P.N. — Yes, I want to leave you, Fate, to evade your steady course.

F. —Well, how are you going to swerve from what is always and already a swerve? (With a smile) Can you really achieve it by simply switching day and night?

5

[Passion against one’s will]

P.N. — Am I really at liberty in the face of Death? Is this face not my charm?

Does it leave me freedom of choice?

A.S.P. —

So, I used to sing

A dream of wonderful freedom and breathed it in sweetly.

But it is you I see, you that I heed, and what?… A weak man!..

My freedom lost forever,

my heart adores this captivity.

6

[A garden of hope on the ceiling]

P.N. — Without getting out of bed, I’m at liberty to be in the garden, just by looking up.

D.A.F.d.S. — The earth in the sky. A garden? Of Eden… upside down. Hell. (The echo repeats, growing fainter: Hell, hell…)

P.N. — I am not giving up hope…

D.A.F.d.S. — Hope is the most sensitive part of an unfortunate soul — ‘hoping’ means indulging in torture, acting like butchers in hell who constantly pick open old wounds.

7

[Geometry is a guide for truth]

P.N. — Look, these regular shapes soften their outlines and have a second, barely visible layer. I always thought that all the people are exactly what they see.

P. — These forms are your mind. See how they bloom. As they pull your mind to madness.

P.N . — But you said yourself that the geometry pulls the soul to truth and influences philosophical thought. Can it be that your invisible presence does not signify in the place of philosophy?

8

[Ananke’s spindle through the eyes of Er]

P. — I want to tell you about a soldier named Er, who rose from the dead on the twelfth day and told me about his visions. Upon leaving his body, he faced four chasms — two in the ground and two in the sky. The souls of righteous people moved to the right and the unworthy souls floated to the left. People came in through the two holes in the heavens and exited from from the two in the earth.

P.N. — I see scattering rectangles on the ceiling. Gaps. Circles. The circle is spinning.

P. — Ananke’s spindle rotates in front of Er’s eyes. The Sirens and Moirai spin.

9

[Leaving the house of impressions] a conversation with herself

P.N. — Maybe it’s not all yours? Perhaps the destruction is what you are striving for? It is your truth? Wait, where are you going? …

P.N. — … (Unintelligible noise, interference, the line breaks) …