Founded in 1729, Ruinart is the first established champagne house, and has always fostered a special relationship with the art world. On the cusp of this year’s edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong, Ruinart reveals its collaboration with artist Vik Muniz in the Ruinart Lounge of the fair in 2019 marks Ruinart’s eighth year of partnership with Art Basel as Global Champagne Partner.
Vik Muniz –The Collaboration
Famed Brazilian contemporary photographer and mix-media artist Vik Muniz is best known for repurposing everyday materials for intricate recreations of historical artworks, that constantly question our relationship with reality and memory. Self-described as a “low-tech illusionist”, Vik Muniz spent the harvest of 2018 in residence at the Maison in Reims. The result is a captivating series of works projecting his personal vision of the relationship between man and nature and the creative tension that can produce true wonders.
Ruinart & Art
On 1 September 1729 in Reims, in the heart of Champagne, Nicolas Ruinart drafted the founding act of Maison Ruinart, which hence became the first Champagne house in the world. An act, which, almost three centuries later, continues to be extended and enriched. The Maison was founded during the Age of Enlightenment. This intellectual movement has made a major contribution to the outreach of France, its philosophy, its culture and its art de vivre (art of living). Since then, it has constantly vitalised, promoted and developed it. Hence it is an absolutely natural quest for the oldest of the Champagne houses.
Since the Maison’s creation, its cellar masters have constantly endeavoured to develop, from generation to generation, the excellence of its wines. In the course of time, the oenological selection has focused on a rare and precious grape variety: Chardonnay. It is today the signature of the cuvées. Elegance, purity, exceptional know-how and light are the hallmarks. The balance between its roots and the audacity of its commitments has become the key driver of its worldwide success and has turned it into an everlasting modern and contemporary Maison.
For more information: www.ruinart.com.hk/