Court orders Rabbit Town to take down its Love Light installation

The Central Jakarta Commercial Court on 20 April ordered Rabbit Town, a “wisata selfie” or selfie tourism spot located in Bandung, to pay fine of Rp1,000,000,000 for infringing the copyright of late artist Chris Burden’s Urban Light installation. The court also ordered Rabbit Town to remove the installation in 30 days. 

The Christ Burden Estate filed the lawsuit last year asking for $61,000 in damages, an apology statement from Rabbit Town and removal of the installation. Chris Burden Estate Executive Director Yayoi Shionoiri in 2018 expressed the estate’s disappointment towards Rabbit Town as the estate never received any formal request to use the installation for commercial purpose.

Urban Light was installed in 2008 at the entrance of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The installation consists of 202 street lights from the 1920s and 1930s. Burden initially presented his installation idea in 2003 to Gagosian Gallery in New York. The gallery turned down the project due to the burgeoning cost. Burden also invited visitors to view the installation in front of his studio at Topanga Canyon.

The project finally met its prospect buyer in 2006 when Burden was introduced to LACMA’s newly appointed director. Since its launch, the installation has received positive feedback from art critics and the public. It has appeared on video, film, TV series and countless social media posts. 

Other attractions at Rabbit Town have also been criticised for copying artists’ work. One of them is a room filled with stickers that has an uncanny similarity to Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room. Indonesians might be more familiar to Kusama's Obliteration Room since it was exhibited back in 2018 at Museum MACAN.

Henry Husada, owner of Rabbit Town, denied the allegation, insisting that he has always been interested in stickers and lights. A representative of Rabbit Town told Kumparan that the installation is inspired by Burden’s work, but it is not entirely similar to Burden’s work, stating that the detail and quantity of poles are different from the original artwork.