[All four pages are available in the recovered original PDF.]
Another major initiative from Florence’s Murate Art District. Entitled Il Respiro dei sogni, on 24, 25 and 26 May, from 10 a.m. to noon and 5.30 to 7.30 p.m., it will see artist Jacopo Baboni Schilingi, undertaking a long residency at MAD, receive the dreams of people willing to “donate” them at the Terzo Giardino, a green haven on the Arno’s left bank, reached from Lungarno Serristori. He will then bring them together and rework them into the large installation of the same name, to be presented in early September 2022 at the Terzo Giardino and in the magnificent spaces of the former prison.
The project is curated by Renata Summo O’Connell and MAD artistic director Valentina Gensini, who explains that it was “conceived by Jacopo Baboni Schilingi for Florence and the banks of the Arno, and grew out of months spent working within our community. In particular, Fine Arts Academy students led by Gaia Bindi have worked alongside the artist for months. We like to think that the three days devoted to collecting dreams will create a new magical moment in the city, in which citizens of every age and background can contribute to a great collective work by sharing, completely anonymously, their dreams, their imaginings of the future and the utopias we wish to nurture with others.
“The original compositions the artist wishes to dedicate to each account will form a site-specific polyphonic work, remaining in our city as a pledge and indelible sign of a deep, complex friendship that Jacopo Baboni Schilingi has cultivated with a close-knit, passionate community of young people, sharing ideas, theories, stage actions, performances and a long, generous period of research.”
Dreams experienced at night, cherished ambitions, personal and collective utopias, hopes for the planet or the future: each of these ideas will be gathered and transformed into the voices of one great installation.
During this first “dream collection” phase, anyone interested is invited to walk freely in the Terzo Giardino for a maximum of 10 minutes, recording on their phone one or more dreams, as voice messages, to “give” to Florence.
Each recording will subsequently be performed by an actress, who will record all the women’s contributions, and an actor, who will lend his voice to the men’s dreams, protecting the anonymity of those who have “donated” their thoughts. The Argo sensor will also be placed on each participant’s chest to record heartbeats and measure breathing. The artist will use these physiological data too, integrating them into the work and the musical score he will compose and dedicate to each dream.
In the final two-part installation, visitors will therefore be able to hear all the dreams again. Those who participated in the first phase will recognise their own amid the anonymity that protects their privacy, accompanied by music composed by integrating the account with breathing and heartbeats.
Image captions
1. Florence: view of the Terzo Giardino on the Arno’s left bank. Photo © Gabriele Galimberti.
2. An image from Jacopo Baboni Schilingi’s processing of the Argo sensor readings.
Cover: detail of a view from the Terzo Giardino.
The project and related events
Il Respiro dei sogni is funded by ANCI, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers’ Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service, and Fondazione CR Firenze through LUMEN–Progetto RIVA. Conceived and produced by MAD Murate Art District, in collaboration with Artegiro Contemporary Art, Institut Français, the Florence Fine Arts Academy and Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini.
Related events at MAD Murate Art District: today, Wednesday 18 May at 5.30 p.m., Jacopo Baboni Schilingi presents Il respiro dei sogni and the Dream Collection with Claudio Rocca, director of Florence’s Fine Arts Academy, and Giovanni Pucciarmati, director of Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini.
Tomorrow, Thursday 19 May at 6 p.m., American musician Nicholas Isherwood presents a recital for voice and live electronics, supported by the French Ministry of Culture and co-produced with IRCAM–Centre Pompidou, Saison Numérique–Montbéliard, CMMAS–Mexico City, Warsaw Autumn–Warsaw, Pamplona, Valencia, Concordia, Montreal and Washington.
Free admission; reservations appreciated.