The online auction of Sotheby's will begin on September 1st to win the precious bottles of Ornellaia Vendemmia d'Artista 2017 "Solar" made by the Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno, internationally known for its interactive installations that offer, in an era of ecological turmoil, new sustainable ways of living our planet.
“We are delighted to organize a new auction with Ornellaia for their exceptional Ornellaia Vendemmia d'Artista program, having collaborated on spectacular events in New York, Hong Kong, London, Toronto, Basel, Los Angeles and Venice for the past ten years. For the second consecutive year, the special auction celebrating the 2017 "Solar" edition will be held online. The sublime union of art and wine expressed by these exclusive large format bottles is a winning combination that will certainly prove attractive to collectors all over the world " , comments Jamie Ritchie, Worldwide Head of Sotheby's Wine.
" We are grateful to Ornellaia for their longstanding involvement in the visual arts and the support offered to the Mind's Eye program," said Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, also. " Thanks to Ornellaia's generosity, we are able to expand the programs that allow us to promote the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art to an ever wider audience" .
This is a theme of environmental sustainability, particularly dear to Ornellaia who, thanks to precision agriculture, has for some time been focusing on self-regulating ecosystems. Thanks to these constant attentions in the vineyard, to the delicacy in the management of the grapes and to a just anticipated harvest, Ornellaia 2017, says Axel Heinz, director of the Bolgheri estate, is a wine of surprising harmony: " in this extreme vintage, in which frost , sun and drought played a decisive role, we managed to bring into the glass aromas of black berries and licorice together with velvet tannins typical of hot vintages; at the same time an excellent envelopment and acidity give the wine a Mediterranean sumptuousness ".
At the same time, in the creation of the work dedicated to the radiance of Ornellaia 2017, Tomás Saraceno, drew inspiration from the alliance between the sun and inhabited living systems.
The site-specific work that will be installed on the estate will consist of glass spheres that, like clouds, make up a magical floating city ideally powered by the heat of the sun. A variation of this concept is also the sculpture, entitled "PNEUMA 4.21x105", which surmounts the imposing 9-liter Salmanazar, the most prestigious lot in the auction. The artist has customized a total of 111 large format bottles by portraying the various phases of a solar eclipse and, finally, has created a special label that, in a single copy, will be present in each case of Ornellaia with 6 bottles of 750 ml.
All labels are thermo-chromic and change color at the touch of the hand inviting us to reflect on the impact that our actions have on the planet.
These oenological and artistic works are auctioned by Sotheby's through an online typing, which will take place from 1 to 9 September. Anyone who registers on the website www.sothebys.com/ornellaia will be able to view the lots, leave a bid and participate in the international auction. Collectors from all over the world will be able to try to win a lot of this incredible collection, at the same time making a gesture of great generosity. The profit from the auction will be donated, as it was already last year, to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in support of the "Mind's Eye" program.
“In the past 11 years - explains Ornellaia CEO Giovanni Geddes da Filicaia - Ornellaia has donated over two million dollars to over ten different institutions in the art world: from the Whitney Museum in New York to the Neue National Galerie in Berlin from the Fondation Beyeler in Basel at the Royal Opera House in London at the H2 Foundation in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Starting from 2019, we want to make a contribution to the development of the artistic perception of the blind and for this reason we have decided to support the Mind's Eye program of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation from now on ".
Ornellaia Vendemmia d'Artista
The Ornellaia Vendemmia d'Artista project celebrates the exclusive character of each new Ornellaia vintage. Every year, starting from the release of Ornellaia 2006, which took place in May 2009, a contemporary artist signs a site-specific work of art and a series of limited edition labels, drawing inspiration from a word chosen by the director of the company, Axel Heinz, who describes the character of the new vintage.
The project foresees that in each case of Ornellaia one of the 6 bottles (750 ml) has a label created by the artist. Just like in previous years, the project includes a limited edition of 111 large format bottles (100 Jeroboams (3 liters), 10 Imperials (6 liters) and 1 Salmanazar (9 liters)) numbered and personally signed by the artist. Every year a selection of these bottles are auctioned by SOTHEBY'S and the profit is donated to support the Mind's Eye program of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
The Mind's Eye program, created by the Guggenheim education department, helps blind and partially sighted people to experience art through the use of all the senses. This promotes the development of creative impressions, emotional connections and memories, whose perception lasts over time. As in art, even the appreciation of great wines requires the involvement of all the senses. Just the sharing of this idea has led Ornellaia to support the growth of this particular program. The donations collected through "Ornellaia Vendemmia d'Artista" allow the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to further develop the activities of the "Mind's Eye" program with the aim of spreading the model in other institutions for art, ensuring that its excellence continue to guide museum programming for blind and partially sighted people around the world.
