The Unconventional Gallery

With a passion for art, the first established champagne house makes art fairs accessible to all with their interactive gallery exhibition. For the presentation of their collaboration with artist David Shrigley at Frieze London this week, oldest champagne house, Ruinart, is embracing the post pandemic world with ‘The Unconventional Gallery’, an experience created with global interactive production studio makemepulse, which helps fuse the virtual and the real of the art world and sits alongside the in-person art fair, making art accessible for all. The collaboration for the collection began in pre-pandemic 2020. However, the cancellation of all in person gatherings including major international art fairs meant the pieces could not be exhibited. Recognising that not everyone can attend the newly opened events, Ruinart commissioned makemepulse to create an interactive experience which expands the reach of the collection and makes it available to a wider audience. For several years, the Maison has weaved close relationships with contemporary artists, whether by actively supporting 30 international art fairs, by collaborating with environmentally committed artists or supporting young, upcoming talent. For the Carte Blanche program, Ruinart has worked with established artists to support creativity and art as part of their Carte Blanche program. Each Ruinart artist collaboration produces a series of pieces expressing their vision of the champagne house which are then exhibited at 36 major international art fairs across the globe. The collection which consists of 36 drawings, 2 ceramics, 3 Neons, 1 Doorway is a curious study of the habits and customs of the vineyard workers, oenologists and other collaborators of Ruinart champagnes. With his drawings, David Shrigley takes us on an instructional but humorous journey of Champagne making us aware of the environmental issues that Ruinart faces on a daily basis. The experience was created to be as true to being at an art fair as possible. The virtual walk through leads us through photo-real open spaces, with vast bright white wall space and concrete style floor. The pieces of art are on the wall, we can even see the natural light shining through the ceiling windows. The image of each piece can be clicked on which zooms in on the piece for a closer look. As with real life pieces in a gallery, an info card about the piece accompanies. A curated selection of key pieces will be exhibited in the Ruinart lounge at each show, but only at Frieze London on 14-17th October will the full collection be on display. Alongside the collection at the other locations will sit an opportunity to participate in the full experience. Digital advertisement created by makemepulse, France for Ruinart, within the category: Alcoholic Drinks.