Conversations with the living, Ruinart’s Carte Blanche 2024

Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket

With its Carte Blanche 2024, entitled Conversations with the living, Ruinart renews its commitment to art that has the power to transform, connect and enlighten us.
In the face of climate upheaval, for the first time the Champagne House has chosen to support six contemporary artists from around the world, with strong convictions, to come and dialogue with nature in Champagne.
Through a collective vision, each artist questions our relationship with living things.
Their artistic creations will be installed in September in the “Artists’ Garden” at Maison Ruinart in Reims.

The Artists’ Garden

In September, a garden designed by landscape architect Christophe Gautrandat the heart of the Maison’s historic site in Reims, will echo this collective impetus and welcome the works through an immersive experience.
This garden is destined to become an essential, long-lasting meeting place for all lovers of art, nature (and champagne, of course!).

The opening of the Garden will coincide with the inauguration of the Nicolas Ruinart pavilion, designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, symbolizing the fusion of naturalness and contemporary creation.

Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024
Credit: Marion Berrin/Ruinart

Carte blanche 2024

The collective

Among the six artists selected, some are more interested in climate issues, others in biodiversity.

Andrea Bowers, a visual artist who combines art and commitment, Thijs Biersteker, whose creations are based on scientific data, Marcus Coates, involved in creating new relationships with the natural world, Pascale Marthine Tayou, who makes aesthetics appear where we least expect it, Henrique Oliveira and his singular sculptures combining plant and organic elements, and Tomoko Sauvage, an artist inspired by the formation and transparency of bubbles…

UNITED STATES

Andréa Bowers

Andrea Bowers was born in 1965 in Wilmington, Ohio.
She now lives and works in Los Angeles.
A committed artist and campaigner for the rights of women, migrants and the environment, her work (drawings, sculptures, videos, installations, etc.) is included in major public collections, particularly in the United States.
For Andrea, commitment and artistic expression are inseparable.

“My work consists of raising awareness of my commitments by giving them a plastic form”.

Andrea Bowers Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket
Henrique Oliveira Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket

Brazil

Henrique Oliveira

Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Henrique Oliveira has lived and worked in London since 2020.
While his paintings evoke an organic proliferation of color, his sculptures create the illusion of plant roots emerging from the urban environment.
Made of inlaid planks from recycled pallets – “tapumes” – they evoke the construction hoardings of Brazilian cities and the precarious materials of the favelas.
Henrique is sensitive to issues of sustainable development, and his works are inspired by the parasitic dimension of these constructions, while underlining the importance of using natural resources wisely.

“My creations recreate a nature that we have taken for granted for too long”.

UNITED KINGDOM

Marcus Coates

Born in the UK, Marcus Coates is an award-winning artist who creates eco-digital installations in a variety of media: painting, photography, sculpture and sound installations, the artist explores the relationship between man and nature.
His work creates links between individuals and species.
He is particularly well known for his films featuring his encounters with animals.
Today, Marcus Coates is considered one of the most important contemporary artists working on issues relating to art and the living.

“A lot of my work is literally a conversation with nature. It’s me talking to plants and animals or trying to imagine what they might say or do. Listening, understanding, being open to the needs of other species and what they can communicate to us.”

Marcus Coates Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket
Pascale Martine Tayou Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket

Cameroon

Pascale Martine Tayou

Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 1967, Pascale Martine Tayou emigrated to Sweden, then France, before settling in Belgium in 2003.
The artist draws her inspiration from African and European imaginary worlds, hybridizing them in the process.
His creations are often spectacular, despite being made from poor, recycled materials.
He has gained international recognition, notably through his participation in Documenta 11 (2002) in Kassel and the 2005 and 2009 Venice Biennales.

“What interests me is people”.

NETHERLANDS

Thijs Biersteker

Born in the Netherlands in 1983, Thijs Biersteker lives and works in Amsterdam.
The artist presents himself as a committed advocate of ecology.
He collaborates with scientists and international institutions such as UNESCO to raise awareness of urgent environmental issues: climate change, loss of biodiversity and deforestation.

His work takes scientific data and gives it a plastic form that makes it easy to understand.
In his installations, technology is used to create interactive experiments in popularization.

“The idea that there is a difference between man and nature must disappear as quickly as possible.”

Thijs Biersteker Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket
Tomoko Sauvage Carte Blanche Ruinart 2024 - Magazine Champmarket

Japan

Tomoko Sauvage

Born in Yokohama, Japan, Tomoko Sauvage lives and works in Paris.
The artist has gained international renown for her experimental approach to sound creation, combining traditional instruments with contemporary technology.

His artistic career is linked to his interest in the transformative qualities of natural elements, particularly the aquatic environment.

His singular practice translates into research into bubble formation and involves the use of “waterbowls”, a set of porcelain bowls filled with liquid.

By manipulating the water’s surface and interacting with hydrophones (underwater microphones), Tomoko produces unheard-of sounds that blur the boundaries between the organic and the electronic.

“I work with vibrations, which are the expression of living beings.”

Source : Champagne Ruinart

Credit: Marion Berrin/Ruinart