Australian Teen Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a valued public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.