artwork

Environmentally-aware: Ruinart champagne house and Argentinian artist C. Tomàs Saraceno has created an artwork with Aerocene, an activist project Saraceno initiated a few years ago. The performance consists in using the power of solar energy to make a symbolic and super fragile structure rise and float in the sky.

Through a performance for #RuinartCountdown, Tomás Saraceno offers a renewed poetic way to sense the air. He questions about our relationship with the environment and invites us to change our perspective on the nature that surrounds us and be more aware of the fragile “ocean of air” we live in and breathe.

The Argentine artist reminds us how essential it is to all species at a time when the earth’s ecosystem has become unbalanced due to the actions of humans.

The permanent installation Movement created by Tomás Saraceno with Aerocene for Ruinart is inspired by shared recognition of the urgency of addressing climate change. With his work, the Argentine artist emphasizes how seriously unbalanced the earth’s ecosystem has become due to human activities. A difference of a single degree suffices to set an inflatable aerosolar sculpture in flight, just as warming of the Champagne region climate by one degree disrupts the ripening of grapes….

The work uses the power of the sun, illustrating how dependent champagne-making is on the forces of nature. The “aeroglyph” sculpture leaves a poetic imprint in the sky above Maison Ruinart. “We believe that art has the power to connect people and make the world better, more sensitive and more intelligent,” says Frédéric Dufour, President of Ruinart.

The ephemeral flight becomes a lasting experience. Fusing art and science, this dynamic project offers a chance to better sense natural rhythms. The Aerocene becomes buoyant and takes flight thanks to the heat of the sun. The work thus evolves with the changing rhythms of nature as a sensor captures its meandering trajectory, transposing the itinerary into an immaterial sculpture, Movement.

Tomás Saraceno’s art is anchored in a keen observation of nature. Global warming has spurred the storied Champagne house to pursue a host of initiatives to protect the environment and fight climate change, including sustainable viticulture practices that foster biodiversity, notably at its historic Taissy vineyard.

“Precision and awareness of the environment are essential for us. A single additional degree in temperature can have an enormous impact on the texture and aromas of our wines,” notes Ruinart Cellar Master Frédéric Panaïotis.

The new installation takes the form of an augmented reality “aeroglyph” to heighten awareness of threats to our ecosystem. It becomes part of the artistic terroir of Ruinart, which will celebrate its 300th anniversary in 2029. The world’s oldest Champagne house has thus begun the countdown and will welcome up to ten additional new artworks between now and 2029. They will enrich its symbolic heritage through a dialogue bridging art, nature and technology.

Tomás Saraceno is an artist whose work is intimately linked to the observation of nature. He has earned international renown for his environmentally-aware and engaged approach to art. An architect by training, he embarked on a much-remarked flight over the desert of New Mexico in 2015 in a solar-powered hot air balloon, presenting his performance in Paris during COP21. With Movement, the artist signs a new digital work rooted in Champagne and in harmony with our environment.

Visitors can see the work onsite thanks to the Aerocene app, giving them a glimpse of a new era of carbon-free mobility. “As we face global warming and climate disruption we need to learn to live with these constraints while at the same time doing everything possible to safeguard a balance,” the artist concludes.