Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
