Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Blue Blob’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.
Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused made no plea and told the court she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.
“This intentional vandalism to a cherished 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 the Blue Blob.”
She said the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and design.
Priced at A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an ancient anteater-like marsupial discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.
