Valse Sentimentale

As Massumi states: "There are uses of language that can bring that inadequation between language and experience to the fore in a way that can convey the 'too much' of the situation – its charge – in a way that actually fosters new experiences."3 Belgian artist Tom Hillewaere exemplifies this unique attempt in the most delicate of ways in his installation Valse Sentimentale. Set to the haunting sound of Tchaikovsky's Valse Sentimentale, interpreted by Clara Rockmore on the Theremin, Hillewaere's piece offers a white balloon attached to a simple black marker on a string. Surrounded by fans, the balloon oscillates lightly across a large white surface upon which the balloon traces simple lines as it traverses the space. As we watch the movements of the balloon, we soon become aware that we easily invest in its quiet communication on paper and the balloon is soon personified as we wait anxiously for its next stroke of the pen. This poetic expression, one of the forms of language to which Massumi refers as potentially transformative, leaves trails of existence, those small signs of our personal convictions that can be beautiful markers of our engagement with the world. In this case, the joy we feel in seeing someone's (something's) personal experience being left behind, marks us and goes beyond the introspective, distanced approach to the aesthetic moment.

Text by Jan Schuijren and Angela Plohman (From: Traces of the next)

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3 Mary Zournazi, Navigating Movements: An Interview with Brian Massumi , 2003, 21 C Magazine. Retrieved 8 June 2006, from www.21cmagazine.com/issue2/massumi.html