let the sunshine in | veuve clicquot solaire culture
Photography | Matt Alexander/PA Wire.
Photography | Matt Alexander/PA Wire.
Credits
France, 1805. Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin is widowed aged only 27. At a time when French women are not allowed to even open a bank account, let alone a business, she takes the reigns as director of her father-in-law’s champagne house and renames it Veuve Clicquot (Widow Clicquot).
United Kingdom, 2023. Londoners have something to celebrate (preferably with a glass of bubby in hand), as the now world-famous Maison Veuve Clicquot brings SOLAIRE CULTURE to Piccadilly Circus. Following Tokyo and Los Angeles, London is the third and final stop for the acclaimed exhibition. A female-only team, headed up by curator Camille Morineau and designer Constance Guisset, takes visitors on an immersive journey, both through the house’s 250-year history and its collaboration with contemporary female artists, including the internationally-renown Yayoi Kusama.
Left | Twist with Madame Clicquot! by Yayoi Kusama; Right | Ghost Guest by Inès Longevial
Left | Twist with Madame Clicquot! by Yayoi Kusama; Right | Ghost Guest by Inès Longevial
Credits
This year, the champagne house celebrates its 250th anniversary because shipment of its champagne began in 1773, but the story really begins in 1805 with Madame Clicquot. She was known as the grande dame of Champagne for a reason. During her 50 plus year tenure, this audacious and forward-thinking woman transformed the industry, and many of her innovative ideas are standard practice to this day. For example, she created the first vintage champagne. She put an end to the conundrum of cloudy liquids by coming up with the technique of ‘riddling’. She invented the first blended rosé champagne. Rosé had previously been tinted pink using elderberries, but Mdme introduced red grapes to add a differentiation of flavour, as well as colour, and her method is still employed in 95 percent of today’s production.
The intriguing historical gems on display at SOLAIRE CULTURE include a hand-written letter from Madame Clicquot to her cousin, revealing both her optimism and her progressive ideas about a woman’s lot in life, and a bottle from the 1840s, discovered at a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea in 2010 when it was remarkably found to be still drinkable, sparking a rather surprising deep-sea experiment by the champagne house.
Yayoi Kusama x Veuve Clicquot
Yayoi Kusama x Veuve Clicquot
Credits
The exhibition though is not just about looking back. To showcase the house’s heritage of female creativity, nine renowned female artists from around the world have been brought together for the first time and were given carte blanche to create an artwork either inspired by Madame Clicquot and her inventions or the “emotional power of the sun” as a tribute to the iconic yellow label, which was created during her tenure, and is now the emblem of the house.
Yayoi Kusama has reinterpreted a portrait of Madame Clicquot, while Sheila Hicks and Monique Frydman close the show with three dimensional artworks inspired by the soleil yellow. The other artists include Inès Longevial, Cece Philips, Olimpia Zagnoli, Moyoko Anno, Pénélope Bagieu and Rosie McGuinness, spanning disciplines from figurative painting to fashion illustration and more.
Joyful Interlude Ensemble by Sheila Hicks
Joyful Interlude Ensemble by Sheila Hicks
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Visitors can also revel in the results of Veuve Clicquot’s love of beautiful objects, and its collaborations with designers to produce items that enhance the art of living, from the Riva bar made for luxury yachts, to more accessible products available in the exhibition’s boutique, like the mini SMEG fridge champagne box, and everything in between. When displayed together, these little works of art reveal the humour and joyousness that are intrinsic to the brand.
Love Seat by Karim Rashid
Love Seat by Karim Rashid
Credits
But there’s more… How about dancing under a disco ball while listening to songs about champagne? Why not a reading room where one can explore quotes on Veuve Clicquot from writers as illustrious as Agatha Christie and James Bond creator Ian Fleming? And yes, one must drink, not just see, touch, and hear champagne. Fear not, the Sunny Side Up Café is on hand. Returning to London after its pop-up in Soho last year, the café is serving dishes designed in collaboration with chef Andi Oliver, and inspired by the iconic English Breakfast, accompanied of course with a glass of champagne (or three, if you opt for the tasting menu). While you are there, don’t forget to raise a glass to the marvellous Madame Clicquot.
SOLAIRE CULTURE is open to the public until 6th June. For information and tickets, click here.
Before the ink was even dry on the contract, Emily Bett Rickards set to work on becoming Mildred Burke. Transforming her body and shifting her mindset to the ring, Rickards started her research with Queen of the Ringby Jeff Leen. Using the book as a bible and basis to guide her, the research went beyond that, digging past the surface to find a woman who, not only helped pave the way to make female wrestling a viable and profitable sport for women in the 1940s and 50s, but powered through a world who told her ‘no’ at every turn. Continuously inspired by Burke, the more she found out about her, Bett Rickards was enticed and entranced by the wrestler’s passion. Something she tapped into for inspiration. Burke’s seemingly unquenchable tenacity, determination, and fire made her such an incredible character to portray.
From the depths of Starling City to the ring, Bett Rickards traded in Felicity Smoak’s keyboard for the ring. Putting her body through a strict regime to gain muscle quickly, she recollects to us the difficulty of it but cites how Mildred’s story made the pain worthwhile. As our chat continues, there’s a passion of her own that shines through, an enthusiasm to share the importance of a story like Mildred’s. Queen of the Ring is a film that, in today’s society, deserves to be put on a pedestal, not for fear of her story being forgotten, but for showing us what the strength of resilience in the face of adversity can do.
In conversation with Schön! Magazine, Emily Bett Rickards discusses Queen of the Ring, her relationship with the source material, how she physically prepared for the role, what she hopes the audience takes away from the film, and how history should remember Mildred Burke.
Can we talk about the research aspect of Queen of the Ring? How deep did you go? What was a fact about Mildred you found particularly fascinating?
What was awesome about Mildred is that even though we’re limited to the era, she was in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Since she liked to be in the spotlight, there’s quite a bit of information on her.So that was very helpful [laughs]. There are a lot of photos. Luckily for me, she had the persona, the dream of being a show woman in a sense. What attracted me to her was this sort of aspiration that she had against all odds, right? She had never wrestled before and hadn’t seen much wrestling as a woman. She wasn’t even allowed at the shows. So, the fact that she had gone to one wrestling match and was like, “That’s what I want to do,” is just extraordinary.
It did feel like any time someone, or society was telling her she couldn’t, she transcribed that in her body as fuel. She was very good at pivoting and making something her own.The script was based on a book called Queen of the Ring:Sex, Muscles, and Diamonds by Jeff Leen. It’s fantastic. There’s so much more about her life in there, so that became my Bible. The internet has many wrong and good things, but it is definitely a lot to dive into. There are a lot of photos of her as a wrestler. Even more importantly for me, there were photos of her with her son, which seemed to show two different sides of her. A big part of the research was also putting on this muscle because her body was different than mine.That means she walked around the world differently than me. Finding out how that muscle influenced her spine and her navigation. Those things really became a part of her personality, I found.
Talking about the muscle, I was going to touch on the physicality of the role. What was the most challenging thing about getting into the ring for you and putting on that muscle? What did that transformation process look like?
Even before contracts were signed, I called my friend, Thomas Taylor, who’s out here in Vancouver and had been a trainer of mine for a while. I said, “Listen, I have to put on muscle.I have to put on muscle fast.” [laughs] We had three months before the camera. I think that was just over two months before wrestling rehearsals.I needed to do something pretty drastic. Tom also knew that I needed to be supplemented with nutrition. He brought on board Dr. Diego Botticelli, who framed out what type of food was needed to do that.It was more food than I’d ever eaten. It was more carbs than I’d ever eaten and more protein than I’d ever eaten. It was extreme.
It taught me a lot about how food builds the body, but food for longevity moving forward. It opened up my eyes. As a woman, I discovered what we need when we’re exercising and how we can have the foundation of our bodywork within the parameters of what we’re asking it to do. I think what was challenging off the bat was making sure I was getting into that routine.
The learning process of it, became second nature, but I really was weighing all my food, and trying to get more protein in a day was pretty hard because you can supplement with powders and stuff, but I do like to eat as many whole foods as possible. I think it’s a real honor to be able to have done this. We should all strive to be healthier and eat how our bodies want us to, but please keep in mind, that I was fueled by the passion to find out who this woman was, it made the process easier. As a side effect, I got to learn a lot. I hope that empowers people. I hope that if you’re looking at changing your life you fuel it with passion as opposed to feeling like it’s a chore because I think that’s the only way we move forward.
Emily wears
coat + gloves. MARGARET
opposite
Emily wears
top. KkCo
trousers. THEO
shoes. Jeffrey Campbell
bracelet. Christine Bukkehave
Emily wears
coat + gloves. MARGARET
opposite
Emily wears
top. KkCo
trousers. THEO
shoes. Jeffrey Campbell
bracelet. Christine Bukkehave
Credits
Mildred Burke was a trailblazer for the sport, and she broke boundaries for women. Why do you think a movie like this should exist in our current political climate?
It speaks for itself. There’s something about Mildred specifically in the story we tell that really focuses on bringing people together and making us stronger.When we start picking at each other, we’re only dividing ourselves. We’re not learning anything. We’re not growing as individuals, but we’re definitely not growing as humanity. There will always be a challenge or an evil to overcome. But the point is that we have to do it together, not divided. There’s so much division in the world. There’s so much violence. There’s so much tragedy happening that when we think about coming together, it feels impossible.
Mildred was a woman of her era. There were things she wanted to challenge, right? There were norms that weren’t allowed, and she challenged that. She’s like, “Well, if I can tell myself that I can do this, I have to be able to believe that you can do it too.”That is what was so cool about her. When you believe in yourself, you have to be able to believe in someone else as well. Cause you can’t just give yourself the right, you know? Maybe there’s something in there that we can learn today.I really do think there is, and I hope everybody can metabolize it in a way that puts it into action in their lives.
How would you say that Mildred’s story changed you as a person and as an actor?
There’s definitely something in her that propels me forward. If I have self doubt, she’s the voice that comes into my head now.She says, “No, get up. Like, let’s go. You can deal with this. Not only can you deal with this, but you can also make this into fuel.” She’s made me more of an understanding person. There are all these things that we talk about; self-love and self-forgiveness and self-care. Those things are hard, but they’re more important because not only when you give them to yourself, you’re immediately giving them to other people. It’s almost infectious, you know? I’m so grateful for that lesson.
Moving a bit away from the film for just a moment, I read an article by Comic Book Resources that the Arrowverse fandom prepared you for the passionate wrestling fans.Is there a particular fan interaction that sticks out to you in recent memory, whether it’s around this film or the Arrowverse?
I’ve talked to people about it, especially the Arrowverse, and they have ideas for a certain season that has passed, I’m always like, “That’s such a genius idea!” They’re always good ideas. So, I think that when you love something, you have the right to be passionate about it.I think you have the right to have opinions on it, for sure. There’s always a vice and virtue to the same thing. Your virtue is your vice. Be careful with who you divide outside of that, because I think the best part of being passionate about something is bringing somebody else in, right? That’s what I was welcomed into with wrestling. It’s also what I was welcomed into with comic books.
With wrestling, though, this was a world I knew nothing about. Now I feel like I’m indoctrinated in a way that is a part of my cellular being.I’m so grateful for that, because I do feel like it is a world of passion. I’ll have the chance to welcome somebody else into something I’m passionate about in the future in the same way.
You’re the second person from the Arrowverse to enter the ring with Stephen Amell’s role in Heels. Did he reach out to you, or did you reach out to him for advice?
[Emily shakes her head]
No?
Such a missed opportunity.
For sure.
I hope we get to talk about it in the future, now that the movie’s out.
I think you will. Between you and I, who do you think could complete the Salmon Ladder fastest?
[laughs] I don’t know what type of shape he’s in, but I was also never able to do the Salmon Ladder, so he’s got muscular memory that I don’t have. He has the upper hand, you know?
I mean, fair, but he’s also filming or was filming Suits: LA, so I think you could take him.
I could definitely take him. I just don’t know about taking him in the Salmon Ladder.
With the film all said and done, and out in the world, what’s the first thing you did once you finished filming?
I went for a run.
Really?
I went with my partner, who’s an ultramarathon runner. I wasn’t really prepared for that. The workout I had when preparing for Mildred, the recommendation was not to do any cardio at all.
Wow.
Because we were trying to build muscle that looked bigger, and the way I was eating was really to build muscle, not to sort of shed anything, in a sense.It just would have been too stressful on the body. We were trying to keep my stress at a minimum so the muscle would build. Nutrition’s so interesting because if your cortisol gets too high, then your hormones get out of whack, and if your hormones get out of whack, then everything does. Especially with women and our cycle, you want to be a little bit more delicate.
So, I went for a run, and my legs felt like concrete. My body was just tired and done, and I was pushing it literally uphill in the middle of summer in Canada. My body was done.I think I was pushing myself to do something I wasn’t necessarily listening to my body for. But I was so excited to be home. My partner and I live somewhere where the best part of the year is summer. It’s the most beautiful place to be in the summer. It was really about spending time with family and doing something that we do together. It was just a brutal reality that what I needed to do was just sit down and take a break.Even though I was doing something that I loved, but no, I had to take it easy for a few weeks.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the film?
I hope they feel impassioned. I feel like they really learn about Mildred, but they also learn that inspiration comes from everywhere. But it also comes from each other.And, you know, you asked that beautiful question about when the world is so divided, what are we doing? It just makes you think that our human existence is really to be with each other and learn from each other. And the platform I get to walk on and that we get to walk on today is because of people like Mildred. And so, carrying that torch, in a sense, and recognizing the privilege that we have of where we live, what we do, I guess, connection with other people, but also just making sure that we’re lifting each other up.
I love that answer.
I can’t see a better way to live life. I don’t think there’s another answer. Please show me. I think that’s our best way forward, to be honest. At some point we die, but I hope I get to hold your hand while we go through life.
How do you think history should remember Mildred Burke?
You know, I was thinking about her. We just did our premiere in LA, and it was our last American premiere. She died in her 70s on Valentine’s Day, and decades later, not only her story lives on, but her message lives on. It makes you realize you have a ripple effect, right? She really had a ripple effect, and it doesn’t need to be on some global scale, but your family who you interact with, your pets, like you have a ripple. I think that carries on decades after you die. She was a woman, she was a wrestler, and she was a person with a dream.But I think she would want to be remembered as a wrestler; that’s her bones, baby.
My last question, Emily, is what’s next for you?
I’m awaiting the next character that’ll kind of wake me up again, just like Mildred did. Something is prickling right now, but we’ll see if it lands.
Editor’s note: This review contains some spoilers.
François Ozon’s latest film When Autumn Falls is an unexpected thriller hinged on friendship and faltering family dynamics. At the heart of the film is Michelle (Hélène Vincent,) a sweet grandma who spends her days up keeping her rustic home and going for walks with her chain smoking best friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko.) “I’m appalled at how rapidly older people are disappearing from view in society and on screens. I countered this by filming actresses in their seventies and eighties who wear their age proudly and accept it without artifice,” said director Ozon in a press interview.
Their loyal friendship began many years ago in Paris where they worked together. Their shared past follows them like a heavy grey cloud, even into old age. “We tend to sanctify and idealise older people, forgetting that they’ve lived complex lives. They were young once, they are sexual beings, they have subconscious thoughts and desires,” said Ozon. The delightful duo mirror each other when it comes to motherhood. They both question whether they have been good mothers as Marie-Claude’s son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) is finding his feet after a stint in prison and Michelle’s daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) has a fractured relationship with her mother, further threatened by an unfortunate series of events.
“When I was a child, one of my aunts organised a family meal where she cooked mushrooms she’d picked herself. That night everyone was very ill except for her because she hadn’t eaten any. I was fascinated by this incident and suspected my aunt – so kind and caring – of having wanted to poison the entire family,” said Ozon on the film’s conception. “When we cook wild mushrooms, are we not, more or less subconsciously, trying to get rid of someone? Starting with that question, I created a character who seems to be the epitome of a doting grandmother, but who might actually be a bit more sinister than outside appearances would suggest.”
Set in Burgundy, the French countryside becomes a character of its own throughout the film. The landscape’s cosy and autumnal colour palette fills the screen with maroon, amber and toasty browns. The tranquil rustling of trees and the tinkering of metal spoons on soup bowls evokes a warm homeliness that starkly contrasts the void in Michelle’s family life. Its frigidity is captured through isolating wooden door frames and ignored phone calls. As an audience, the camera’s frequent vertical sweeps remove you from the narrative at times, but equally serve as a reminder that we are merely a voyeuristic fly on the wall to each character’s choices.
Nature plays a transitional role in the film with the change of seasons signifying mortality and the lengths people will go to ensure they survive. Whether that be Marie-Claude’s son Vincent trying to stay out of prison or Michelle desperately trying to stay connected to her grandson Lucas (Garlan Erlos,) each character protects their own, and in doing so, exposes their deepest fractures.
The faults each character is willing to overlook and the secrets they decide to keep in the name of preserving familial ties, at its core, is the most human aspect of this film. Flawed humans doing whatever they can to evade emotional solitude, even if it costs them. A concept illustrated by a striking image of one character resting like a camouflaged fallen leaf on the forest floor. “I want the film to make us wonder what our own behaviour and reactions would be if someone close to us were suspected of committing an act we disapprove of, but for which we have no proof…How far would we go to protect them? These questions feel particularly relevant today, in light of the current political and social unrest,” said Ozon.
It seems that much like the tumbling autumn leaves, throughout the film women fall victim to the mistakes of men. Marie-Claude suffers her own health problems worrying about the misbehaviour of her son. “It’s like a punch in the gut. Her body keeps the score…she feels responsible for her son’s struggles,” said Ozon. The mistakes of Marie-Claude’s son bear little repercussion, only protection. In contrast, the women in When Autumn Falls cannot escape their errors. We come to learn that all that tension in the brisk autumn breeze stems from a family history riddled with shame, blame and guilt.
Through the lens of 2025, the villainisation that Michelle receives for her past feels out of place. Although, Ozon explained that “Michelle and Marie-Claude’s past is a pebble in their children’s shoes. Doing some research, I found that in general there are two types of reactions. Either the child defends the mother, seeing her as a victim who needs help now, to get healthcare, retirement. Or the child rejects the mother, disgusted and shocked by what she did.”
‘When Autumn Falls’ is showing in UK & Irish cinemas from 21st March
photography. Courtesy of Parkland Pictures
words. Shama Nasinde
On the geographical playing field of art history, Vienna stands out as a hotbed of artistic innovation. It’s therefore unsurprising that an art fair celebrating creative advancement is being hosted across in the city’s MARX HALLE cultural centre. From March 21 to 23, thousands of contemporary art enthusiasts will attend SPARK Art Fair Vienna. They will be greeted by a variety of solo presentations that will quite literally project artists onto the world stage. For the fair’s fourth edition, artistic directors Jan Gustav Fiedler and Walter Seidl are focusing on both up-and-coming talents and established artists: ‘Our democratic exhibition layout, with equal stand space for everyone, not only promotes equal opportunities, but also gives visitors the opportunity to engage more deeply with the works on display.’
The fair is set to be an exciting pedestal for contemporary art. Its global spectrum of creative mediums will range from painting and photography to innovative and interactive mixed-media exhibitions. As you’d expect, its accompanying programme will include a range of inspiring talks from digital advancement to issues concerning the art market. This year’s fair is all about the interplay between tradition and the future, artists and the public, and people and technology. Underscored by the byline: ‘Contemporary Art, Digital Innovation and Creative Diversity’, organisers are pulling no punches when it comes to its selection of exhibiting galleries and practitioners.
In the arena are ninety international galleries from five different continents. Renowned names such as Nächst St. Stephan, Krinzinger, Lombardi-Kargl (Vienna), Konrad Fischer (Berlin/Düsseldorf), Dirimart (Istanbul), 1 Mira Madrid (Madrid) and Fonti (Naples) will be among those in attendance. Their artists range from established greats such as Lois Weinberger, to feminist pioneer Sanja Iveković, and Gregor Schneider, winner of the Golden Lion at the 49th Art Biennale in Venice. Up-and-coming talents such as Vera Klimentyeva, Lunita-July Dorn and Laura Killer will also make an appearance.
As part of SPARK Art Fair’s commitment to digital innovation, the fair will host the Smartphone Orchestra. A unique immersive experience that transforms participants’ smartphones into a unified musical instrument. Organisers have taken this one step further by also partnering with BMW Group Niederlassung Wien for the second time. Bridging the borderlands between art and mobility, the Group will unveil its legendary Art Car, a dynamic contemporary automobile conceived in collaboration with pioneering artists. This synergy between movement and creativity, will sit alongside a series of exclusive events at the MAK. Welcoming new perspectives on the evolving relationship between design, and artistic experimentation.
To round off the event’s scintillating program, organisers have taken over the historic? Viennese Globe Theatre for its production of live performances, video art and talks by discussion panels. Artists, curators and art experts from all over the world will debate topical issues in contemporary art, such as the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in the art world. All talks at the Globe Theatre are free of charge, enabling a much wider audience to enjoy these lively debates and presentations.
SPARK Art Fair Vienna is running from March 21 to 23. You can learn more about the event and purchase tickets here.
But there’s more… How about dancing under a disco ball while listening to songs about champagne? Why not a reading room where one can explore quotes on Veuve Clicquot from writers as illustrious as Agatha Christie and James Bond creator Ian Fleming? And yes, one must drink, not just see, touch, and hear champagne. Fear not, the Sunny Side Up Café is on hand. Returning to London after its pop-up in Soho last year, the café is serving dishes designed in collaboration with chef Andi Oliver, and inspired by the iconic English Breakfast, accompanied of course with a glass of champagne (or three, if you opt for the tasting menu). While you are there, don’t forget to raise a glass to the marvellous Madame Clicquot.
SOLAIRE CULTURE is open to the public until 6th June. For information and tickets, click here.
