Young Australian Charged for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the local council said that surveillance video showed a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
The mayor added the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
