Kaws exhibition at Marina Bay allowed to reopen after court lifts earlier order to stop event

SINGAPORE - The Kaws:Holiday exhibition at The Float @ Marina Bay will now resume, after the court lifted an earlier order to stop the exhibition.

The interim injunction was lifted on Monday (Nov 15) in the State Courts by District Judge Kow Keng Siong.

The 42m-long inflatable work by popular American artist Kaws — slated to go on display from last Saturday to Nov 21 — had been temporarily closed to the public, after the event's organiser, the Hong-Kong based creative studio AllRightsReserved (ARR), was served an interim injunction.

This happened as the non-profit organisation The Ryan Foundation (TRF) sued ARR, citing breach of intellectual property rights and breach of confidence.

The foundation had been in talks with ARR in 2019 to make the exhibition happen in Singapore, but the negotiations eventually fell apart.

The interim injunction had ordered that the exhibition stop taking place. It also ordered that the sale and distribution of relevant merchandise relating to the exhibition, as well as all advertising and publicity, be stopped.

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Representing TRF on Monday were its founder Mr Ryan Su, as well as Mr Giam Zhen Kai, both of OC Queen Street law firm.

ARR was represented by Mr Tan Tee Jim, Mr Christopher James de Souza, Mr Basil Lee and Mr Valen Lim of Lee & Lee.

Mr Tan, a senior counsel, told The Straits Times that his clients are happy to be able to exhibit the well-known sculpture in Singapore.

The foundation's director Adrian Chan said in a statement after Monday's hearing: "The interim injunction is a temporary one and we are happy that the public gets to enjoy the artwork."

The latest turn of events comes a day after Mr Su started contempt of court proceedings in the High Court against ARR and a string of other parties.

He had filed the application on Sunday evening, on the grounds that they had breached the earlier order to stop the exhibition and its related publicity events.