For its 2025 artist collaboration, Ruinart partners with 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.
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.
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.
Beyond these prints, Charrière transforms Ruinart’s crayères into an immersive installation. At 4 Rue des Crayères, a subterranean vault becomes an echo chamber where the memory of the Lutetian Sea collides with the imperilled frequencies of today’s coral reefs.
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.
Charrière’s artworks will debut at Art Basel Hong Kong from 28–30 March, before traveling to Miart, Berlin Gallery Weekend, Art Basel Basel, Frieze Seoul, and Art Basel Paris. The installation at 4 Rue des Crayères will open in June 2025, offering an ongoing meditation on the deep time embedded in the landscape of Champagne.
Learn more here.
photography. Alice Jacquemin, Gregoire Machavoine, Raul Cabrera
words. Gennaro Costanzo
