Nomas Foundation

Par tibi, Roma, nihil

Valerio Rocco Orlando, Personale è politico, 2011. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy the artist and Nomas Foundation, Rome Flavio Favelli, Terrazzo con decori, 2008. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Studio SALES, Rome and Nomas Foundation, Rome Gianni Politi, Reverse Sistina, 2016. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Lorcan O'Neil, Rome and Nomas Foundation, Rome Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Scolpire il tempo, 2010. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Wilfried Lentz Gallery, Rotterdam Gabriele De Santis, We're Short a Guy, 2016. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Frutta, Rome, Chez Valentin, Paris and Nomas Foundation, Rome Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2006. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Sprovieri, London and Nomas Foundation, Rome Nico Vascellari, diffused performance, 2016 Piero Golia, Loser, 2003.Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Bugada & Cargnel, Paris and Nomas Foundation, Rome Daniel Buren, La scacchiera arcobaleno ondeggiante, 2016. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana Marko Lulic, Death of the Monument, 2009. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy the artist and Nomas Foundation, Rome Petrit Halilaj, They are Lucky to be Bourgeois Hens II, 2009.Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy the Chert, Berlin and Nomas Foundation, Rome Alessandro Piangiamore, La cera di Roma, 2014. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy MAGAZZINO, Rome and Nomas Foundation, Rome Giulio Delvé, Cancel 1/2, 2011. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy UnosuNove, Rome, Supportico Lopez, Berlin and Nomas Foundation, Rome Chen Zhen, Bibliotheque Musicale, 2000. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana and Nomas Foundation, Rome Maria Adele Del Vecchio, Herstory, 2014. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Galleria Tiziana Di Caro, Naples, Supportico Lopez, Berlin and Nomas Foundation, Rome. Loris Cecchini, Stage Evidence (Chinese Relief), 2007. Installation view, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, Rome. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana and Nomas Foundation, Rome.

Curated by Raffaella Frascarelli

June 23rd - September 18th, 2016
Extended until October 23rd, 2016
Opening: June 23rd, 2016 from 6.00pm
Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, via di San Gregorio 30 (Gateway Vignola), Rome

ARTISTS: Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Meris Angioletti, Francesco Arena, Kader Attia, Elisabetta Benassi, Daniel Buren, Loris Cecchini, Chen Zhen, Isabelle Cornaro, Michael Dean, Tomaso De Luca, Giulio Delvé, Maria Adele Del Vecchio, Gabriele De Santis, Flavio Favelli, Piero Golia, Petrit Halilaj, David Horvitz, Kapwani Kiwanga, Jannis Kounellis, Marko Lulić, Emiliano Maggi, Masbedo, Rosalind Nashashibi, Alessandro Piangiamore, Gianni Politi, Valerio Rocco Orlando, Michal Rovner, Marinella Senatore, Sissi, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Adrian Tranquilli, Guido van der Werve, Nico Vascellari, Tris Vonna Michell, Sislej Xhafa

Rome, January 25th, 1787
It becomes every day more difficult to fix the termination of my stay in Rome: just as one finds the sea continually deeper the farther one sails on it, so it is also with the examination of this city. It is impossible to understand the present without a knowledge of the past and to compare the two, requires both time and leisure. The very site of the city carries us back to the time of its being founded.
J.W. Goethe, Italian Journey

In an area that has been closed to the public for decades (Domus Severiana, Palatine Stadium, Lower Peristyle Domus Augustana), the Nomas Foundation collection opens a dialogue with the identity of Rome, poised between the suggestions of the ancient and the sociopolitical contradictions generated by the diffusion and mutation of its image. At the center of the critical debate, the appropriation of the historical memory (spolia), the ideological manipulation of the masses operated by ancient art, the creation of a myth for power, the active dictatorship of the “religio,” the forceful structuring of “lex” and “ius,” the global paradox and the contradictions of the cultural heritage. A journey of dissent within the myth of Rome, an anarchic re-reading of the devices for the stratification of history, an experience of self education which shifts our view to a more active role, disclosing uncomfortable perspectives towards an open and critical cultural consumption.

“Par tibi, Roma, nihil" (“As you, Rome, nothing”) is Hildebert of Lavardin’s exclamation of marvel before the ruins of the late antique Rome, an ideal motto that inaugurates a new cultural season for the eternal city. Thanks to the open vision brought forth by the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, the National Roman Museum, the Archaeological Area of Rome as well as the support of Romaeuropa Festival and Electa, the collection of Nomas Foundation merges with archaeology in the construction of a unique and evocative exhibition which unravels in: artworks from the collection of Nomas Foundation, the commissioning of 3 site-specific artworks respectively by Sislej Xhafa, Daniel Buren and Kader Attia, performances by Emiliano Maggi, Sissi, Tomaso De Luca, Meris Angioletti, Nico Vascellari and a closing symposium Lo spazio dell’arte tra passato e futuro (The space of art between past and future) which will gather specialists of the ancient world, archaeologists and contemporary thinkers. The objectives: to transform while conserving the integrity of the archeological, historical and artistic heritage; to favor the creation of innovative thinking through the interaction of specific knowledge areas such as ancient and contemporary, to structure new models of cultural fruition that may orient the public towards a more open, critical and conscious cultural consumption.

The exhibition is promoted by Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, the National Roman Museum, the Archaeological Area of Rome
In collaboration with: la Fondazione Romaeuropa Arte e Cultura and Nomas Foundation
With the support of: Electa, Art Film, GALLERIA CONTINUA

Site specific in collaboration with GALLERIA CONTINUA
Sislej Xhafa (Colosseum - Meta Sudans)
Daniel Buren (Domus Severiana Upper Terrace)
Khader Attia (Domus Augustana Lower Peristyle)

Performance Programme at Palatine Stadium
June 23rd - Emiliano Maggi
July 21th - Sissi
July 28th - Tomaso De Luca
September 8th - Meris Angioletti

Calendar of Diffused Performance:
June 24th-Semptember - Nico Vascellari

September 2016
Symposium: Lo spazio dell’arte tra passato e futuro (The space of art between past and future)

Press office: Maria Elena Croci and Claudia Fiasca