Perchè perchè la domenica mi lasci sola per andare a vedere la partita dell’Unione is an exhibition curated by Ragazzi di Strada and held at Ca’Buccari, Venezia, in August-September 2024.
The exhibition, which was the outcome of a one-month residency at the art space, investigates the overlooked relationship between subcultures, graphic design, psychogeographical practices and the Unione VeneziaMestre (or Venezia FC) football ultras, mixing archive ephemera with textile installations by Ragazzi di Strada.
The exhibition title is a reference to “La partita di pallone,” a 1964 song by Italian pop star Rita Pavone in which the female protagonist complains about being left alone by her partner every Sunday to attend the football game. The title is itself a direct quote of a chant by the ultras of Venezia FC, and it serves to highlight the practices of appropriation and détournement of popular and youth culture elements carried out by football supporters in Italy, as investigated by the research and exhibition.
The exhibition
Within a social context overwhelmed by tourism, football is one of the last spontaneous forms of aggregation and ways to experience the urban texture of the Venetian lagoon. The history of Venezia FC – or better, Unione VeneziaMestre as recognised by its fans – though, is far from simple, with the many identities and ownerships that have defined it for the last forty years. Its bankruptcies and resurrections. Just like the history of the city, the club and its supporters too are the result of social, cultural, political and geographical stratifications and shifts. Since 1987, with the unione (merging) of Calcio Venezia and Mestre, the curva stands as the point of convergence of the multiple facets of Venezia, Mestre and Marghera.
The ultras’ ephemera, chants and graffiti have thus become instruments of resistance and defense of an identity that is not only sporting, but also urban and social. As part of the summer residency at Ca’Buccari,Ragazzi di Strada spent one month researching the unspoken bond between youth culture, graphic design and football fandom within the context of Unione VeneziaMestre. At the heart of the study are the practices of iconographic détournement that, season after season, have contributed to delineating an ultras semantics exclusive to the context of the lagoon. But also the theme of space re-appropriation, carried out through graffiti and the affixing of stickers.
By establishing a dialogue with the local community and the fans, the exhibition offers a balance between archive and reinterpretations of the research finds. The latter is achieved in the forms of a print publication and a series of unconventional flags, which aim to reflect on the subcultural identity of the Unione supporters.
Among these, Make Venezia Hardcore Jamaica celebrates the Caribbean and hardcore punk scenes, which historically have intertwined with the arancioneroverdi supporters. Pretty Vacant is a modular flag, where safety pins – a pivotal accessory of the sartorial patchworks of punks – highlight the merging of chromatic and social identities that has defined the Unione fans since 1987. Solo per la Maglia (Only for the Shirt), instead, reinterprets the flag of San Marco. On one hand, it aims to trigger a reflection on the new condition of global stardom of Venezia FC dictated by the success of its kit design and, on the other, nods to a classic ultras motto: one of support to the maglia, hence the team, regardless of players, results and relationships with the club’s board.
