Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.
The following day the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
