NIMBUS LIMBUS OMNIBUS

GELITIN/GELATIN · curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi · SEASON IV · October 2, 2024 — June 30, 2025

For the first time in Rome, the Viennese collective Gelitin/Gelatin leads Season IV at FOROF with Nimbus Limbus Omnibus, a site-specific project that stages a dialogue between contemporary art and the archaeological site of the Basilica Ulpia, balancing irony, liberation, and historical memory.

Curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, the exhibition revolves around the theme of freedom and draws inspiration from manumissio — the Roman rite of emancipation once practiced in the eastern apse of the Basilica Ulpia.

Suggested image: “hero” view of the installation in the hypogeum with visitors.

A ritual title: cloud, threshold, everyone

Nimbus Limbus Omnibus hints at a liturgical-like formula: the cloud (nimbus), the edge (limbus), and for all (omnibus). A fluid threshold through which art operates as a device for liberation from conventions and taboos, both individually and collectively.

Suggested image: detail of a playful/liberating element within the installation.

A single installation in two cores

The exhibition unfolds in two cores. The first appears as a vast archive of memory: sculptures and stage objects produced across more than 25 years, reclaimed materials, assemblages, plastiline, polystyrene columns, dismantled and repurposed furnishings, ceramics, and plaster works. A deposit reminiscent of Roman catacombs.

Suggested image: wide shot of the “archive/deposit” with the dense array of works and materials.

The second core opens onto the archaeological area itself, in dialogue with the marble flooring of the Basilica Ulpia: a series of plaster busts (2019) featuring twin mirrored napes that subvert the traditional portrait and probe identity, originality/copy, inside/outside.

Suggested image: close-up of a “double-nape” bust next to the ancient marbles.

Live activations

The show opened with a welcome ceremony: a large street-level table, pastries created in collaboration with Rimessa Roscioli, and a festive atmosphere that introduced the collective’s characteristic participatory dimension.

Suggested image: the opening table or a performative moment with the audience.

Catalogue

A bilingual monographic catalogue is published by Magonza, featuring new materials, an extensive conversation between the curator and the artists, and a critical focus on the sculptural busts.

Suggested image: catalogue still life or inner spread detail.

Public Program

Season IV is accompanied by a Public Program curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi: performances, actions and interventions that expand the show over time and engage audiences as active participants.

Gelitin/Gelatin

The collective (Wolfgang Gantner, Ali Janka, Florian Reither, Tobias Urban) has worked since 1993 across performance, installation and sculpture, with an irreverent, participatory approach that rethinks the relationship between artwork and audience.