The 5th labour. Cleaning the Augean stables in a single day
The 5th labour. Ercole has started moving again. From the silence of Tenuta Petrolo he has been transferred to the Civico Museo Parisi Valle
Not a simple trip, but a change of state. After centuries of stillness, the wooden body has set off again, crossing space as one crosses a new time.
Once at the museum, Ercole became a field of investigation. An assessment of his state of conservation, a surface cleaning, the setting up of a restoration workshop: not just technical gestures, but the start of a collective reflection on what it means to “care” today. Around him a process has opened, a visible worksite, where restoration is also an act of relationship, a shared practice.
During the day the project’s aims were presented to the public, marking the start of a wider journey. The first two artistic interventions gave shape to the dialogue: Giancarlo Norese, working at a distance through the hands of Francesca Petrolo, activated a remote presence, a transmission of gestures and intentions; Diana Dorizzi, instead, worked directly on the face of Ercole, with a site-specific work that turned his features into a sensitive threshold.
Around these actions a community of artists gathered, who came to watch and to offer themselves. Thus began an open cycle, a constantly expanding workshop, where every contribution is a chance to redefine the boundaries between public and private, between conservation and creation, between heritage and invention.
The experience has only just begun: Ercole becomes a device for collective practice, an experiment in shared creativity that questions the very idea of the common good. His body, exposed to time and to hands, is no longer an object of protection but an occasion for encounter. A future of gestures, trials and alliances is taking shape: the labour goes on, as an energy that unites and transforms.
The last embrace before departure
Francesca Petrolo, before Ercole was moved
Federico Crimi, Umberto Cavenago, Michele Petrolo and Franco Sartori handling the wooden sculpture
Franco Sartori, Federico Crimi and Francesca Petrolo
Pleres, 2025
Resin
Same size as the face of Ercole
Francesca Petrolo dismantling Ercole from its original location, in preparation for its transfer to the Civico Museo Parisi Valle
Nicola Zocchi during the handling of Ercole
Franco Sartori and the public during the presentation of the project's aims
Diana Dorizzi in the moment before her intervention on Ercole.
Her intervention on Ercole is an act of listening rather than of addition. Working on the face of the sculpture, the artist activates a new way of seeing: she does not interpret, she reveals. The surface of the wood becomes living skin, a field of relation between past and present. With her characteristic sensitivity to perception and space, Dorizzi turns the material into a place of encounter: Ercole is no longer merely an object to be looked at, but a presence that looks back. A minimal, almost invisible act that makes visible the continuity between the care of restoration and the care of looking.
Her intervention on Ercole is an act of listening rather than of addition. Working on the face of the sculpture, the artist activates a new way of seeing: she does not interpret, she reveals. The surface of the wood becomes living skin, a field of relation between past and present. With her characteristic sensitivity to perception and space, Dorizzi turns the material into a place of encounter: Ercole is no longer merely an object to be looked at, but a presence that looks back. A minimal, almost invisible act that makes visible the continuity between the care of restoration and the care of looking.
Right tear
Al Museo Parisi Valle attorno a Ercole accadono varie azioni, Diana Dorizzi prepara il suo intervento, Francesca Petrolo e Franco Sartori tolgono il piedestallo, Ermanno Cristini riceve la telefonata dell'altro artista presente in mostra a distanza Giancarlo Norese.
