Ruinart supports the moderate consumption of wine and spirits through Moët Hennessy, a member of Wine in Moderation.
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THE ARTWORK
Born out of a shared concern about climate change, Movement, the artwork created by Tomás Saraceno with Aerocene for Ruinart, sensitively highlights the urgency of the climate challenge.
Aerocene is an activist project, initiated by Tomás Saraceno, that uses the power of solar energy to make a structure rise and float in the sky. In harmony with the elements, the flight of the Aerocene changes according to the atmospheric pressure and the wind.
Embodying the utopia of a flight without fossil fuels, this piece of art offers an aesthetic perspective on the importance of air for the development of life on earth as well as in the vineyards of Champagne. A single degree of additional temperature between the structure and the ambient air is enough to make an inflatable aerosol sculpture fly away, in the same way that a one degree rise in the temperature of the Champagne region disrupts the ripening of the grapes each year... The Argentinean artist reminds us of the extent to which the balance of the earth's ecosystem is weakened by human activity.
Immaterial, the journey of Aerocene creates a drawing invisible to the naked eye. Thanks to on-board digital sensors and augmented reality technology, the swirling traces become a work of art, the Aeroglyph, visible from the Maison Ruinart in Reims via the Aerocene mobile application.
AT NATURE’S RHYTHM
Tomás Saraceno’s artistic approach is based on carefully observing nature, just like the work looking after the vines at Maison Ruinart. For several years now, in the Champagne region, grapes ripen more quickly and harvest begins earlier and earlier in the year. In 30 years, the average temperature has increased by 1.3°C.
This is the symptom of a wider, global climate crisis, which has led Maison Ruinart to actively protect the environment through sustainable viticulture practices fostering biodiversity. Ecodesign is also essential to its vision of packaging, while the supply chain has been transformed to focus on less polluting modes of transport.
To share this enlightened vision, Maison Ruinart has invited environmentally committed artists including Tomás Saraceno to create a site-specific works of art in its historic terroir. Movement reveals glimpses of a new era free from fossil fuels, batteries, lithium, solar panels, helium, hydrogen, and carbon emissions.
ROOTED IN CHAMPAGE REGION
With the application Aerocene, Maison Ruinart’s visitors will be able to display, thanks to augmented reality, the drawing left by the Aerocene in the sky over Reims.
The Aeroglyph sculpture generated by this performance will thus become part of the Maison’s artistic terroir. It will be a reminder of the importance of the air we breathe and help building a world where species and nature coexist in harmony.
THE ARTIST
Born in Argentina in 1973, Berlin-based Tomás Saraceno challenges ways of inhabiting and sensing the environment. Collectively calling for environmental justices that enable interspecies cohabitation, Tomás Saraceno’s artistic collaborations renew relationships with the terrestrial, atmospheric and cosmic realms, particularly through his community projects Aerocene and Arachnophilia. For more than two decades, Saraceno has activated projects fostering ethical collaboration with the atmosphere, including Museo Aero Solar (2007-) and the Aerocene Foundation (2015-), a non-profit organization devoted to community building, scientific research, artistic experience, and education.
Saraceno’s profound interest in spidersand their webs led to the formation of the Arachnophilia. This not-for-profit, interdisciplinary spider/web research community builds on innovations arising from Saraceno’s past collaborative research into spider/web architectures, materials, modes of vibrational signaling and behaviour. Notable exhibitions include Event Horizon at Cisternerne, Copenhagen (2020); Aria, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence (2020); La Biennale di Venezia as part of May You Live In Interesting Times (2019); and ON AIR, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018).
1729-2029
Maison Ruinart will be celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2029 with a commemorative countdown strongly focusing on art.
From the first artwork commissioned from Alphonse Mucha in 1896 to current support for emerging artistic talents, the oldest champagne house has alwaysfostered a strong connection with contemporary art.
Until 2029, 10 artworks will be installed in the heart of the Maison’s historic terroir, enriching its symbolic heritage through a dialogue between art, nature and technology.