Since 2002, French champagne house
Ruinart – established in 1729, and now
owned by LVMH – has collaborated with a
contemporary artist, tapping them to create
works of art inspired by its products. Past
collaborators have included Maarten Baas,
Piet Hein Eek and Erwin Olaf, with this
year’s choice being Chinese artist Liu Bolin.
‘We’d wanted to work with Bolin for a long
time,’ says Frédéric Dufour, Ruinart’s CEO.
‘He’s an artist who stands for something.’
Bolin, aka ‘the invisible man’, is known for
painting his body and photographing himself
camouflaged against diverse backgrounds –
a comment on man’s relationship to his
surroundings. In August 2017, just prior
to the grape harvest, he spent ten days at
Ruinart, producing eight photographs
of the estate and the people working there.
Throughout the year, these works
will travel to more than 30 major art fairs,
including Art Basel, Frieze and FIAC.But you can also visit the scene of where it all
took place, with a two-hour Ruinart tour that
offers the advantage of champagne tasting.
Ruinart’s story stretches back to the
17th-century Benedictine monk Dom Thierry
Ruinart, who lived in an abbey close enough
to Paris to learn about a new ‘wine with
bubbles’ that was driving the aristocrats wild.
When he returned to his native Champagne
region, he told his brother that he believed
the beverage had serious potential. In 1729, »∑ 241
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