Transformation

I was really bummed about my Dresden trip getting canceled. Really, really bummed. Missing a chance to be in a new country, see some Raphaels, and eat pretzels--sad. So a weekend at Troja would have to suffice.

Saturday, ZOO PRAHA. Magic. Animals. THIS GUY.

Meow.

Today, I planned to spend a little time at the Chateau--after all, it's a house. A nice, big, Baroque house. How special could it be?

I was. Absolutely. Flabbergasted. The most beautiful, magical, and peculiarly rich site I've ever visited. The interior was exhibiting paintings by Cubist Emil Filla and animal statues by Vincenc Vingler, and the ceilings were decorated with Baroque frescoes of Habsburg triumph and antique mythology. I was the only one in the galleries. It was a really wonderful exhibit.

But as special as the interior was, the outside of the Chateau was beyond anything. I barely have words. I've been scribbling in my notebook all day trying to explain it. A labyrinth with 12 foot hedges.  A fountain with Melusine figures. Reliefs of every kind of animal A staircase decorated with gods, and beneath them, a cavern (the underworld) where titans wrestle.

THIS is a place for site-specific theatre!

The strange thing is, I have always associated Troja with Melusine, even before visiting the Chateau. Maybe it's because the greenhouse at the botanical gardens is called "Fata Morgana"--Morgan Le Fey, and also a form of mirage. Maybe it's just a sense of surreality I feel there. I mean, the botanical gardens do not make sense. They are massive and unending. I always feel like I've accidentally wandered out of the site, but then I'm back in the Japanese gardens, or the North American Prairie. I always feel like I'm the only one there. And who tends to all of it? It's like an entire world in itself. It's quiet and merciful and high above the city. I'm straying from the point. All I do is wander these days...

Zamek Troja from the labyrinth.

Melusine.

In short, she was a fairy queen figure, and she married a human, Raymond. She made him promise never to enter her chamber on a Saturday, and he agreed. They gave birth to several monstrous children. Then Raymond's brother convinced him to look into Melusine's chamber on a Saturday to find out her secret, and he discovered her with a serpent's tail from the waist down. Betrayed, she became a serpent and fled. Raymond was heartbroken.

It's a pretty common archetype--Cupid and Psyche, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Crane Wife, etc... But I like it a lot. And for some reason, whenever I think of it, I think of Troja. The two are inextricably tied in my mind. Then today, seeing those statues in the fountain, I about had a heart attack. Yet further evidence that Prague is all a figment of my imagination...

So I am choosing for my two themes in Site-Specific Impermanence and Transformation. Both are powerful, both are personal. And I think they go hand in hand. Everything is in flux, in motion, nothing lasts forever, even for a moment. Always always shifting in and out of order. Troja has a labyrinth: the home of a minotaur. Troja has a fountain: the home of Melusine. Troja has a dying swan: the love of Leda. Monstrous offspring, forbidden love, transformation. Ideas ideas ideas. La la la.

My sketch of the Chateau + Fountain.

I started to sketch Troja Chateau while eating quiche at the Bistro Metropolitan--a vegetarian restaurant right next to my hostel. The waiter asked me if I was a painter. I said, no, I just like to doodle. He complimented my drawing and my Czech, asked if I lived here. I said no, but I will. He said perfect.