Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Placing Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by affixing googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the judge recommending her to find a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
When the artwork was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its cost and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
