KAWS at Palazzo Strozzi: Reframing the Annunciation in the Age of the Smartphone
Florence, Italy
06 January 2026
From 29 October 2025 to 25 January 2026, Palazzo Strozzi presents ‘KAWS: THE MESSAGE’, a large-scale, site-specific installation by the contemporary artist. Installed in the Renaissance courtyard of the Florentine palace, the work establishes a direct dialogue with both its historic setting and the concurrent exhibition devoted to Fra Angelico.
Curated by Arturo Galansino, 'THE MESSAGE' consists of two monumental wooden sculptures, over six metres tall, depicting KAWS’s iconic characters COMPANION and BFF. Positioned facing one another, the figures are absorbed in their mobile phones. Their stance clearly recalls the iconography of the Annunciation, traditionally represented as an exchange between Mary and the Archangel Gabriel. In KAWS’s reinterpretation, the divine word is replaced by the smartphone, an everyday object elevated to an almost sacred role.
Through this gesture, KAWS revisits one of Western art’s most enduring visual narratives to reflect on contemporary modes of communication. The installation addresses themes of melancholy, vulnerability, and human connection that recur throughout the artist’s practice while foregrounding the paradoxes of hyper-connectivity. The act of messaging is magnified to an architectural scale, prompting visitors to consider how technology reshapes relationships. The contrast between the playful, instantly recognisable figures and the Renaissance architecture underscores KAWS’s ongoing challenge to distinctions between “high” and “low” culture.
Freely accessible in the courtyard, the installation reflects the public-facing ethos of the Palazzo Strozzi Future Art programme. In Florence, KAWS offers a contemporary meditation on communication—what is transmitted, what is mediated, and what may be lost—through a powerful encounter between historical memory and the visual language of today.
Currently at Opera Gallery Bal Harbour is a dedicated exhibition on KAWS on view until 15 January.
