Young Australian Charged for Supposedly Attaching Googly Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Artwork
A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that surveillance video captured a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused did not enter a plea and told the court she was unwell, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without harming the sculpture.
“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”
The mayor said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.
When the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.
Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.
