AGUANTE is a project by the artist Giovanni de Cataldo, promoted by the Fondazione Pastificio Cerere in partnership with MUNTREF – Museos de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, and winner of the fourteenth edition of the Italian Council, a program promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, which allocates funds for cultural projects supporting the production, promotion, and support of contemporary art abroad.
Giovanni de Cataldo (Rome, 1990) has had his studio inside Pastificio Cerere in the San Lorenzo district since 2014, where he has developed and consolidated his artistic language within the crossroads of artists and ideas that have characterized the former factory since the 1970s. This legacy has been embraced and amplified by the Fondazione Pastificio Cerere which, since its establishment in 2004, has been committed to promoting research and experimentation among young artists. Participation in the Italian Council program represents a significant milestone in de Cataldo’s professional journey and is fully aligned with the Foundation’s mission, serving as a strategic opportunity to enhance the artist’s work both nationally and internationally.
De Cataldo’s artistic research focuses on the urban environment, from which he directly extracts elements that he then reworks through various languages, including new technologies applied to sculpture. By taking everyday objects directly from the street—such as guard rails damaged in crash tests, benches, and fountains—the artist explores the limits and potential of matter. In recent years, his work has expanded to include the analysis of the sociological and anthropological contexts in which subcultures—such as that of the ultras—emerge and evolve, as well as the diverse languages that populate cities.
AGUANTE will unfold between 2025 and 2027 through a series of national and international events, culminating in August 2027 with the acquisition of the works by the collection of the Museo di Palazzo Collicola in Spoleto.
Among the scheduled events are two solo exhibitions by the artist: one in Buenos Aires at MUNTREF – Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, part of the Museos de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (March–April 2027), and one in Rome at the Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, curated by Marcello Smarrelli (May–July 2027).
The project relies on an international network of cultural partners: Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City); Salotto/Accurat, an Italian-American cultural center based in New York; Alberdi Residencia, a creative hub and artists’ residency in Córdoba (Argentina); SOMA, an artist-founded platform for art education in Mexico City; and Blueproject Foundation, a contemporary art foundation based in Barcelona and active across Europe. Each partner will contribute to the valorization and international dissemination of the project through exhibitions, residencies, meetings, and educational initiatives.
AGUANTE investigates the connections between South American football fandom and migration to Italy, starting from the very word that gives the project its title, aguante. The term—transferred in the 19th century from sailors’ jargon to that of the hinchadas (popular supporter groups born in Argentina in the 1960s)—has come to symbolize collective identity, belonging, resilience, and unwavering loyalty to the colors and the flag, in every place and circumstance, especially in the face of exhaustion, hunger, thirst, conflict, and defeat.
De Cataldo’s research—developed across stadiums, archives, and football clubs founded by Italian migrants—will bring to light micro-histories, cultural syncretisms, and mixed languages, revealing links between football, memory, and community. Starting from Buenos Aires, it will extend across other regions of Argentina, from Córdoba to Santiago de Chile and Río Negro, with particular attention to supporter groups born within Italian immigrant communities.
The collected material will be used to produce 8 large-scale tapestries (up to 5 meters wide), a visual map of a transnational identity that echoes supporters’ banners and underscores the sacredness of football, accompanied by a video documentary and a publication edited by Yogurt.
In September 2025, Giovanni de Cataldo began his project with a trip to Argentina, a country where numerous football clubs were founded by Italians. His first stops were Buenos Aires and the Alberdi Residencia in Córdoba, where he visited the Asociación Familia Piemontesa de Córdoba, the project space Reyerta Enmarcaciones, the cultural center 220 Cultura Contemporánea, and La Ruleta de Pacho, a historic restaurant in the Alberdi neighborhood and a symbol of local culture and gastronomy. His journey continued through independent spaces and the studios of resident artists.
He then moved on to Patagonia, with his first stop in Cipolletti, where he met the local community, engaged with the supporters of Club Cipolletti, and visited the Circolo Italiano of Cipolletti, one of many clubs founded in the late 19th century by Italian immigrants wishing to maintain ties within the community. From there, he reached Villa Regina, a colony founded by Italians in 1924, where the Circolo Italiano stands out as both a sports association and a cultural center. The itinerary concluded in San Carlos de Bariloche, where de Cataldo deepened his research on pioneering figures in the city’s development, such as Primo Capraro, Federico Baratta, and Alfredo Caspani. The final stop in Patagonia was the city of Neuquén.
On 20 November 2025, at the end of his residency at Alberdi Residencia in Córdoba, de Cataldo presented the performative documentary “Que golpe para la envidia” during a pop-up exhibition at Previa los viltas, a historic gathering place for football fans in the Alberdi neighborhood. The artwork explores and portrays the passion of the supporters of Club Atlético Belgrano (“El Pirata”), a fervor that transcends life itself and extends even to the cemetery, symbolizing an unbreakable bond. In parallel, the documentary follows the slow and strenuous daily route of a carrero—a marginalized worker who collects and resells recyclable materials and scraps like cardboard or food—whose life revolves around the cart pulled by his horse. Within this context emerges the emblematic association between the animal and Rodrigo Bueno, nicknamed “El Potro” (“The Colt” or “The Stallion”), an iconic Argentine cuarteto singer and absolute idol of Belgrano’s supporters. This reference creates a symbolic bridge between the icon of popular music and the carrero’s horse, connecting the pride of the fanbase with the dignity of the worker from Alberdi. The title, “What a blow for envy”, painted on the cart, becomes a declaration of self-sufficiency and pride in the face of marginalization, transforming everyday resilience into an act of resistance and personal affirmation.
[Watch here some excerpts from the work Que golpe para la envidia]
