Gorchakov’s Wish

+ Alba Lunedì / filmic re-enactment, Bagno Vignoni, Italy
+ Fall (An Allegory) / live performance, Betsey Trotwood, London, UK
+ Fall (An Allegory) / performance for video, Triangle Space, London, UK
+ Kino Haiku / installation, Triangle Space, London, UK
+ Immolation Triptych / drawing performance, The Drawing Field, London, UK

Gorchakov’s Wish engages with the work of acclaimed Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky and, more specifically, the penultimate scene form his film Nostalghia (1983). In this scene, a single extended take and tracking shot that follows the protagonist, the poet Gorchakov, as he enacts a ritualistic performance carrying a lit candle across the expanse of the Santa Caterina Pool.

The pool, a natural thermal spring, infuses the film-image with an atmospheric combination of hot steaming pool and cool morning sunlight. In the context of the filmic narrative, this suggests a mental space of isolation in a physically demarcated ‘sacred’ space, evoking the psychological state of Gorchakov. Meanwhile, Tarkovsky’s syntax of the slow extended tracking-shot induces a contemplative state from which to observe, over a prolonged time, the pool and protagonist. Taking this 9 min. 4 sec. scene from Tarkovsky’s film as a site, we engage with its material and symbolic qualities, transforming these in and through our own creative practice.

+ click here to view project notes related to all of Gorchakov's Wish.