The "KAWS: HOLIDAY" Tour

We have already told you about the KAWS collaboration with the wristwatch manufacturer and the release of his newest wooden toy (the shipping, by the way, is expected in January). One part of this collaboration, namely the 11-meter inflatable installation on the manufacturer's rooftop, is also an episode of the ongoing infamous art project by KAWS: the KAWS: HOLIDAY World Tour, made with AllRightsReserved, the Hong Kong-based creative studio.

Since the launch of the project in 2018, the gigantic KAWS characters have visited 12 cities and cultural sites to date. Among them are the legendary Prambanan Temple Compound in Indonesia, a floating football field in Singapore (where the installation made the court drama around itself), and even the skies above the English countryside. Now, for the first time in years, Companion returns to Europe to land at an old manufactory in rural Switzerland.

KAWS started his career as a graffiti artist, and a graffiti artist is defined by their aspiration to invade the order of things, transforming the fabric of reality into an artistic statement. This is what graffiti artists actually do: they take an ordinary wall and change it into a piece of art. Somehow, KAWS is still doing the same. He enters cultural or socially significant places and invades them with his gigantic inflatables, alienating our perception of them. Even though the latest installation is a commercial collaboration and a promotional campaign for a luxury timepiece, it does not change this approach—at least, not drastically. It is still impressive and leaves room for thought.

KAWS: HOLIDAY Le Brassus will be adorning the Swiss landscape for a month, until December 20.