Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Placing Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A young person from Australia has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, facing with one count of property damage.
Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video showed a individual placing fake eyes on the sculpture, which residents have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.
A day after the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular 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,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”
She added the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and design.
Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.