Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
The mayor said the council would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
