Navin Rawanchaikul reunites with the Swiss watchmaker to create an artistic timepiece, celebrating the 59th edition of La Biennale Arte in Venice, Italy.
The Chiang Mai-born artist debuted his first collaborative watch with Swatch last year when he was a part of a project with Italy's National Museum of 21st Century Art (MAXXI). Navin was awarded the Silapathorn Award from the Thai Ministry of Culture in 2010 and represented Thailand at the 59th Venice Biennale, which ends on Nov 27.
At this year’s Venice Biennale, Swatch presents works by distinctive global artists as part of the "Swatch Faces 2022" exhibition. "The Description Of The World”, a thought-provoking exhibition by Navin, is among the masterpieces that are on display at Venice's historic park, Giardini. Taking inspiration from the expedition of Marco Polo, his 14-metre-long canvas is filled with portraits and tells the story of the immigrant communities that call Venice their home. Navin also wrote a letter to the legendary explorer about what brought him to Venice and this letter is part of his exhibition and is presented to the crowd in multiple languages.
For the Venice Biennale 2022 collab, the artist breathes new life into Swatch's New Gent model. Dubbed "Ciao, Venezia!", the limited-edition watch is rich in detail, like his art installation on which it is built around. The portrait of Marco Polo and many other historical figures and landmarks look artistic in a Thai classic poster style, featured on the watch face and straps. Its specially designed package comes with a 3.5-metre-long printout of Navin’s letter to Marco Polo. The Thai words "Loka Pannana" and their English equivalent "The Description Of The World" are clearly shown on the dial. Shop at swatch.com/en-th.
