In the heart of Rome, a forgotten building reopens its doors for one last, surprising act before it disappears. A former nightclub from the 1980s, the one at Via Gregoriana 9, a stone’s throw from Trinità dei Monti, comes back to life for a few weeks as a “living ruin,” hosting the exhibition Chi uscire entra. A Tribute Exhibition to a Disappearing Building, sponsored by the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History.
Until Nov. 9, 2025, anyone can enter a place that marked an era, before it is completely transformed.
Art unearths a forgotten building in Rome
There is something deeply human about seeing a falling building again filled with voices, footsteps and glances. Via Gregoriana 9 is one of those places that seemed lost: peeling walls, dim lights, traces of a time when Roman nightlife had a different rhythm.
Today, however, those same spaces host more than twenty international artists who use sculpture, video, photography and performance to restore meaning to what time was erasing.
It is as if the building asked for one last chance to tell its story – and art granted it.
From 1980s glamour to silence: the double life of the former nightclub
Founded in 1911 as the private gallery of collector Ludovico Spiridon, this building has lived many lives: it was an art workshop, a bourgeois residence, and, in the 1980s, the legendary nightclub La Cage aux Folles, where nocturnal Rome sparkled with music and freedom.
Then came the silence. Thirty years of neglect and dust, until today, when the Bibliotheca Hertziana chose it as the future home of a new wing of its institute.
Before the construction site erases the traces of the past forever, the exhibition returns it to the city in a fragile but authentic form: that of conscious ruin, where imperfection becomes memory.
“Who comes out goes in”: an exhibition celebrating urban memory.
The title of the exhibition is an homage to Vincenzo Agnetti ‘s 1971 work, Chi esce entra. A paradox that becomes key here: to be reborn, one must first cross the end.
Curated by Simon Würsten Marin, the exhibition transforms each room into a fragment of a story. Artists, from Louise Bourgeois to Rachel Whiteread, from Corrado Levi to Tarik Kiswanson, do not embellish the ruin: they inhabit it, question it, make it alive.
Strolling through the halls, one feels the layering of time: the laughter that still seems to resonate, the music that vibrates between the walls, the echo of footsteps that once descended on the runway.
It is an experience that speaks not only of art, but also of collective memory.
Why you can’t miss it: a sensory experience in the heart of Rome
Those who go out come in. is notan exhibition “to visit.” It is an exhibition to feel.
Because the space is the first protagonist, and those who enter become part of it.
That is why it is worth experiencing it now:
- It is temporary: it will be open only until November 9, 2025.
- It is site-specific: the works dialogue with the cracks, the stains, the dust.
- It is immersive: more experience than exhibition.
- It offers performances and guided tours, getting to the heart of the project.
At a time when much architecture is demolished without memory, Who Exits Enter restores dignity to the passing of time, reminding us that even things destined to disappear deserve a look.
From the past to the future: the lesson La Cage aux Folles leaves behind.
The building at 9 Via Gregoriana will soon be transformed into a new extension of the Bibliotheca Hertziana. The walls that now house installations and works will become offices, archives, and research spaces.
The material fate is already written, but the experience of these months will leave a mark.
In Rome, examples such as the Civic Center redevelopment project at the Arco di Travertino show how much the city is rediscovering the value of giving new life to forgotten spaces.
Practical information for the visit
📍 Address: Via Gregoriana 9, 00187 Rome
📅 O pen until November 9, 2025
💡 F ree admission by reservation (check on the official website of the Bibliotheca Hertziana)
🎭 Collateral program: performances, meetings and guided tours.