Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of property damage.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a person putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her next court date in December.
A day after the reported event, the local mayor stated that restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
When the sculpture was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.