Young Australian Faces Charges for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Sculpture
A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, participated via phone at the local court in South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that CCTV footage showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
She said the local government would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
