Over two weeks ago, it was announced that a giant inflatable sculpture will be occupying The Float @ Marina Bay from yesterday (13 Nov) to 21 Nov.
Things were going according to plan for about two hours into the exhibition when suddenly, the organisers were told to close.
Kaws Giant Exhibition at Marina Bay Ordered to Close Due to Copyright Issues
The exhibition was supposed to be opened yesterday (13 Nov) when the Hong Kong-based organisers, AllRightsReserved, received a court order from Singapore non-profit arts organisation, The Ryan Foundation, to stop the exhibition.
All sales, distribution of the merchandise, advertising and publicity of the exhibition and merchandise are required to be stopped immediately.
The court order was served to AllRightsReserved at 4.20pm yesterday (13 Nov). Normally, if one was served with a court order, they would stop whatever they are doing that’s pertaining to the court order.
But AllRightsReserved continued with the exhibition and three hours after the papers were served, visitors were still spotted in the showcase area.
Due to such defiance, the founding director of The Ryan Foundation, Mr Ryan Su, is planning to file contempt-of-court papers against the organisers for failing to take down the artwork.
Why Did the Exhibition Have to Stop?
The Ryan Foundation has sued the organisers for an alleged breach of the foundation’s intellectual property rights as well as a breach of confidence.
Previously, the foundation was in talks with the organisers in 2019 to make the event happen before negotiations fell apart.
South China Morning Post reported that the foundation claimed to have introduced the organisers to the Singapore government contacts and came up with the design ideas for the merchandise before the project was aborted.
Adrian Chan, one of the owners of The Ryan Foundation, said that it was “disappointing” that a version of the project went ahead when “confidential information and intellectual property rights, among other things, were at risk of being misused”.
“The injunction could have been averted if questions were raised and stakeholders consulted.”
In response, the organisers called the allegations “groundless” and the company is in the process of seeking urgent legal advice to challenge the order.
The American artist, Brain Donnelly or more commonly known as Kaws, said that he has no contractual agreement with The Ryan Foundation and these allegations were baseless.
Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which supported this display, is aware of the injunction against the organisers.
Both Kaws and STB were not a party to the lawsuit.
The Artwork is Still Inflated
As of 14 Nov, the 42m long giant inflatable sculpture is still inflated and on The Float @ Marina Bay. All merchandise of Kaws: Holiday Singapore on their official store also has a “sold out” sign to them.
There was also no updates on AllRightsReserved Facebook page.
It is unsure when they will dismantle and deflate the sculpture or if they will eventually continue with the exhibition. But as of now, everything is up in the air like this balloon.
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Featured Image: Facebook (Plural Art Mag )