Giant KAWS exhibition at Marina Bay sees court ordered suspension lifted

Update: Since the release of this story, the court has discharged the interim injunction and has ordered The Ryan Foundation to pay the legal costs involved in discharging the injunction, according to CNA. There will also be an inquiry into the damages sustained by AllRightsReserved.

By now most of us would have seen the Kaws: Holiday exhibition making its rounds on social media. However, it seems like the exhibition is met with some holiday blues as it was ordered by the Singapore court to come to a halt. The order comes after non-profit organisation The Ryan Foundation kicked off court proceedings against organiser AllRightsReserved, a Hong Kong based studio, and other relevant parties involved in the KAWS:HOLIDAY artwork at The Float @ Marina Bay for breaching confidentiality and intellectual property rights.

The exhibition, supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), featured a 42m-long inflatable of KAWS' signature character, COMPANION, created by international artist Brian Donnelly. The exhibition was slated to run until 21 November 2021. 

However, organisers are accused to have breached an earlier court order to stop the exhibition and carried on to host a private preview for invited social media influencers on its opening day, 13 November 2021. According to its website, The Ryan Foundation is a non-profit firm “promoting arts awareness and developing art projects to build communities in Singapore and internationally.” A spokesperson said “various parties had known that confidential information and intellectual property rights, among other things, were at risk of being misused and still continue to be involved in a project that exploits home-grown stakeholders in the Singapore arts landscape.” The statement added, “The injunction could have been averted if questions were raised and stakeholders consulted.”

In a statement to SCMP, organiser AllRightsReserved said the issue is being handled by lawyers and it "reserves the right to seek remedies available by law.” AllRightsReserved is a Hong Kong-based creative agency and has been a  longtime collaborator of the artist Kaws. The agency is led by SK Lam, who is well known in the Hong Kong art scene and had famously brought to Victoria Harbour's Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s giant floating rubber duck  In 2019, Hong Kong was the third stop of art installation KAWS:HOLIDAY to showcase a 37-metre long signature character created by the American.

Meanwhile, STB told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that said it is aware of the court injunction against AllRightsReserved, and understands the organisers are exploring all options. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to all parties involved. 

According to an article on ST, artist Donnelly, said: "I have no contractual agreement with The Ryan Foundation. Their accusation is baseless." He also said that he was honoured to exhibit in Singapore and the reception from people in Singapore has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

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(Photo courtesy: AllRightsReserved Facebook)

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