Amarilli mia bella

Art Quarter Budapest (AQB) is sited in the historical industrial buildings of the former Haggenmacher Brewery. The rooms have been stripped of all equipment and artists are presented with large cavernous spaces that can be used for exhibitions or performances.

As part of AQB’s Open Studios, members of the public are invited to explore the various art works and performances that fill up these rooms and experience the soul and spirit of exploration that the artists are engaged with in their residency there.

In a site-specific response, the emptied building was envisioned as though it represents a chest cavity in which the rooms then correspond to the chambers of the heart. Wilson then chose to use 16th Century composer, Gullio Caccini’s Amarilli Mia Bella as a basis for a dance and voice performance, because the melodramatic Italian aria included the words “Open my breast and see written on my heart” (“Aprimi il petto e vedrai scritto in core”) and aptly conveys the sentiments of the artists and curators involved with AQB’s Open Studios.