Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in December.
A day after the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
She added the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
