25 – 28 April 2024
Brussels Expo

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Carte Blanche 2024 – Ruinart

Marcus Coates, Conference for the Birds, 2019 / Commissioned by National Trust and Newcastle University

Maison Ruinart unveils the 2024 Carte Blanche Conversations with nature.

Inspired by this tangible connection with nature, Maison Ruinart lays the foundations of a collective movement. By choosing – to  bring artists with strong convictions into conversation with the living world, the Maison sends out an ambitious signal at moment when climate upheaval puts so much at stake.

In 2024, with a Carte Blanche entitled Conversations with nature, Ruinart is bringing to life a form of art that is committed to nature and driven by a multitude of talents. All of them focus on the relationship between mankind and nature through their unique prism. Andrea Bowers combines art and activism, Thijs Biersteker bases his work on scientific data, Marcus Coates creates new relationships with a «more than human» world, Pascale Marthine Tayou brings out beauty where least expected, Henrique Oliveira and his spectacular sculptures bring plants and other organic elements together, while Tomoko Sauvage is passionate about bubbles – from how they form to their transparent appearance. These six artists have been selected to come and dialogue with nature in the Champagne region and question our relationship with living things – embodying the collective impetus set in motion by Maison Ruinart.

Part of Conversations with nature, Maison Ruinart is delighted to exhibit at Art Brussels from April 25 to April 28, through the work of Marcus Coates.

Through different media – painting, photography, sculpture, and sound installations – Marcus Coates explores imaginary and symbolic relationships between mankind and nature.

For Carte Blanche, Marcus Coates has designed an ephemeral calendar to mark the daily events taking place in nature at Maison Ruinart’s historic Taissy vineyard, from plants flowering to birds migrating and insect lifecycles. In the form of flags, one of which is hoisted every day, the calendar celebrates invisible news from our ecosystem with a short phrase. The messages on the flags will be compiled into a limited-edition publication.

Marcus Coates, Portrait in Ruinart vineyard in Sillery, Champagne, France, 2023

Portrait of the 6 artists from 2024 Carte Blanche in the Ruinart vineyard in Taissy during the harvest 2023

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