Australian Teen Charged for Allegedly Attaching Sticker Eyes on ‘Cast in Blue’ Sculpture
A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large art piece of a legendary being by affixing plastic eyes to it.
The 19-year-old, aged 19, participated via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.
In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.
The accused made no plea and informed the court she was ill, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.
The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be removed without damaging the art piece.
“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced Cast in Blue.”
She said the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.
At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.
Costing 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 marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.