Folly

In the installation Folly (2005–2009), Valeska Soares creates a separate, magical world, with elements of fantasy. The work’s calculated placement, beside the lake and encircled by a nostalgic garden, makes visiting the pavilion a romantic and seductive experience, while it simultaneously solicits the viewer’s introspection and involvement. As in many works by Soares, the public’s participation is fundamental for Folly, which is only fully realized through the viewer’s direct experience within its spaces. Upon entering the structure, the spectator sees video projections on the walls showing part of a dance. The multiple images are formed by reflections, which alternately bring the dancers closer together and farther apart, to the strains of The Look of Love by Burt Bacharach. This song, which was originally on the soundtrack of the spy movie Casino Royale (1967), evokes an era of glamour that today seems somewhat decadent. The video of the dancers, entitled Tonight (2002), served as a starting point for the creation of Folly. It was recorded in the nightclub of the old Pampulha Casino in Belo Horizonte, which was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and today functions as a museum. The images in the video relate to the architecture of the piece, which recalls a garden gazebo or a bandstand in a public square. For the work’s permanent presentation at Inhotim, it was surrounded by a landscaping project developed in collaboration between the artist and Inhotim’s botanical team. This project differs from the landscaping in most of the park, displaying aspects of a household garden, with trees and flowers of various kinds. An interest in gardens and the multisensorial aspect of art – beyond vision, touch and smell – is recurrent in Soares’s work, along with allusions to memory and fiction.