Young Australian Faces Charges for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.
The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that restoration to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.