Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable art piece of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage captured a individual placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to find a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without harming the art piece.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She said the local government would seek the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork 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 sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
