Art’azienda: Maria Cristina Ballestracci’s works at Petroltecnica
Petroltecnica has always been an active promoter of cultural, artistic, and social initiatives, within a broader vision of Corporate Social Responsibility. Our daily commitment is focused on sustainable development and the protection of natural resources for the benefit of future generations. We have a business unit called Environmental Emergency Response, which carries out prevention and safety measures (MISE) to ensure that the environmental consequences of potential pollution do not cause harm to human health or the environment.
Alongside our teams and expertise, we have also launched initiatives for the community, with particular attention to social, artistic, and cultural activities, aiming to convey messages of collective interest through the emotions of art and cultural reflection.
The works of Maria Cristina Ballestracci
We have therefore chosen to begin 2025 with a new exhibition in the Art’Azienda series, showcasing, from January 24 to February 28, a retrospective of Maria Cristina Ballestracci: the artist, born in Milan and based in Santarcangelo, is particularly attentive to the marine environment as a “totality” of life, death, and the stories of real and imagined people. Her works, deeply poetic and aesthetic, arise from the search for objects returned by the sea. The sea that gives, the sea that takes away and then returns, so that Heraclitus’ panta rhei may follow its eternal course. A different way of communicating the importance of Zero Waste and resource reuse in the perspective of safeguarding the planet—principles that Petroltecnica applies within its industrial sector.
The exhibition hosted at Petroltecnica brings together works from Oltrepassi 201 and The Wrecks, along with additional artistic incursions conceived and shared with the artist during the past month of December.
- Oltrepassi 201 originates from the remnants of shoes, boots, sandals, slippers, and soles found after a long and careful survey along the Adriatic beach of Fiorenzuola di Focara, a small bay of sand and pebbles on the border between Romagna and Marche. These are steps that come from afar, from journeys uphill. Since 2013, these objects have been cared for, revived, and presented to a collective audience. They tell stories of boundaries to be crossed, existential adventures, courage, belonging, identity, and choices. In the act of walking, we make choices, giving direction to ourselves—toward where and how to proceed—moments that can shape an entire life. Among the 201 contributors: Franco Arminio, Nada, Marco Paolini, Maria Concetta Mattei, Eraldo Affinati, Davide Brullo, Giulio Casale, Antonio De Luca, Andreina De Tomassi, Caterina Frassetto, Tiziano Fratus, Marcello Fois, Giovanna Greco, Annalisa Teodorani.
- The Wrecks “rest on the sandy seabed. They lie beneath, in depth. They scrape the soul. They remain motionless on the shore. And in their stillness, they descend into the shadow of shadows. One can smell the salt in pieces of wood, stones, pebbles, shells that Maria Cristina Ballestracci gathers from fragments of land. That saltiness that brushes the air and heralds the wind. One can hear the murmur of sea and land together, the tide that overwhelms the shore, deep and shallow. Like a faint creak. It sounds like a voice you have not heard in a long time, emerging from silence.” (Giovanna Greco, Rai 3)
A piece of wood smoothed by the tides resembles a human face; a vintage British navy jacket dresses and identifies it. A poetic work by MCB is born.
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