A.S. Velasca stages four art events across Europe to fill Italy's World Cup void

With Italy absent from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the artist-run football club A.S. Velasca has organized four simultaneous art events across Europe from November 2022 to February 2023. Founded by Marco De Girolamo, Karim Khideur, Loris Mandelli, Clément Tournus, and Wolfgang Natlacen, the club aims to compensate for the national team's absence. On November 19, the day before the World Cup starts, A.S. Velasca will play a 'Partita Impossibile' against a selection of the Italian diaspora curated by artist Paolo Del Vecchio at Venice's Pier Luigi Penzo stadium. Ticket number 152 is designed by artist Marco Godinho. In Milan on November 26, sculptor Nada Pivetta will unveil five new jerseys for the club at an undisclosed iconic location, following her special jersey celebrating Italy's 1982 World Cup win. In London, scarves by French artist Thomas Wattebled will be exhibited at OOF Gallery inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until February 26, 2023, alongside works by David Shrigley, Guerrilla Girls, Babak Ganjei, Gray Wielebinski, Aurore Le Duc, and Bedwyr Williams. In Blois, France, a collective foosball table made by 66 hands will move from Le Port des Créateurs (Toulon) to the Fondation du Doute in December, joining works by George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, John Cage, and Nam June Paik in a Fluxus-themed exhibition running until November 27.