Australian Teen Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council explained that CCTV footage showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She said the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
