From May 1 to 4, 2025, the PalaisPopulaire in Berlin transforms into an immersive experience celebrating art, champagne, and conscious living. During Berlin Gallery Weekend, a key event on the cultural calendar, Ruinart invites guests to explore the multifaceted world of its historic champagne house in a new way at the Ruinart Champagne & Art Bar to celebrate its 2025 artist collaboration, Julian Charrière, a Franco-Swiss artist whose work explores the intersections of time, geology, and human impact.
Known for blending scientific research with poetic storytelling, Charrière challenges how we perceive nature — not as something separate from us, but as a force constantly shaped by human history and intervention. Conversations with Nature brings this perspective to Ruinart’s terroir, transforming the Champagne house’s deep connection to the land into an artistic dialogue that spans millennia. Conversations with Nature makes its debut in the Champagne & Art Bar, inviting viewers into a dialogue with the natural world through the lens of time and terroir.
Ruinart’s selection of Charrière is a natural fit. The Maison has long been at the forefront of sustainability in winemaking, from regenerative viticulture to eco-designed packaging. Charrière’s work adds another layer, questioning how human activity reshapes the environment and what it means to engage with nature in a time of ecological urgency. “At the heart of my work lies the notion of encounter — an intimate dialogue with place, biome, and environment. These moments are not mere observations but exchanges, where landscape and presence intertwine, shaping one another in a quiet, reciprocal conversation,” he explains.
The event, which occurs between May 1st to the 4th at PalaisPopulaire in Berlin, includes a carefully curated, sustainability-inspired menu offering light, à la carte dishes crafted to pair perfectly with Ruinart’s champagnes. Guests can register now to indulge — from refreshing starters to refined bites, every pairing is designed to elevate the flavours of each pour. In addition to the art, what guests can really experience is what is at the heart of Ruinart’s philosophy: a deep commitment to sustainability, evident in every aspect – from vineyard practices to packaging innovations. The newest cuvée, Ruinart Blanc Singulier, embodies this vision, reflecting both environmental mindfulness and the Maison’s iconic character. Guests can taste it by the glass and even purchase a bottle wrapped in a Furoshiki cloth as a keepsake.
Champagne’s limestone-rich soil holds traces of an ancient sea that once covered much of Europe. Forty-five million years ago, the region was submerged under the Lutetian Sea, a vast marine world whose fossilised remains still shape the land. The chalk pits (crayères) beneath Ruinart’s vineyards are ghostly echoes of this past, a reminder that landscapes are never static — they carry the memory of deep geological time.
Charrière pays tribute to this lost ocean while reflecting on the fragile state of today’s marine ecosystems. His Conversations with Nature series includes a collection of photo lithographs capturing coral reefs — luminous, living structures that mirror the prehistoric marine forests that once thrived beneath Champagne. Using a 19th-century lithographic process, Charrière reimagines these corals through pigments sourced from locally collected limestone and crushed corals. The muted, pale tones evoke the fading vitality of these ecosystems, suggesting both the resilience of nature and its vulnerability in the face of environmental change.
Unlike a traditional gallery exhibition, Conversations with Nature is designed as a multi-sensory experience. Through large-scale installations, geological textures, and soundscapes, Charrière invites viewers to engage with Champagne’s terroir in a way that goes beyond observation. The collaboration reinforces Ruinart’s vision of Champagne as a product of time, landscape, and human ingenuity.
Visit Ruinart Champagne & Art Bar from May 1 – 4, 2025, 1 PM to 9 PM daily, at PalaisPopulaire, Unter den Linden 5, Berlin Mitte. Register now at ruinart.com.
photography. Alice Jacquemin, Gregoire Machavoine, Raul Cabrera
words. Gennaro Costanzo
