Alice Maher

The other day (Tuesday to be precise) while vacating my flat so the estate agent could show someone round I decided to go to the museum to see what was on in the gallery there. It’s something I used to do a lot while at uni, but have neglected with working full time at heady JS.

The exhibition didn’t disappoint and I recommend everyone going to see it. It is after all free so no excuses.

There is some great work on show but my highlights have to be:

The Four Directions – Balls made from snail shells. It’s a long time since I stopped and looked at the beauty of a snail shell, the intricate pattern of each shell completely unique. Having spent time gardening, snails become an enemy and you forget the beauty of a snail in your anger at another plant munched.

Berry Dress – A small dress painted rigid with red paint with rosehips pinned all over it. There is still a beauty in the dried blackened rosehips that cover the main panels of this dress. I’m not sure if they ever were but I imagine this must have been spectacular if the rosehips had been ripe red and shiny.

Mnemosyne or Ice Bed – This is my favourite thing about the show. Named after the Greek goddess of memory, this piece stands in a darkened room on its own. This is a bed of ice, turned of each night and allowed to defrost, each day it forms a new and unique coating of frost on its surface. This coating is always unique, always changing in response to changes in the environment around it. A blanket of ice crystals like frost on a window.
I loved this piece; it is a truly interactive work, its form responding to the changes in its environment brought about by people coming to view it.

Links

Brighton Museum
Mnemosyne

Tales from the Desk

I am constantly amazed by the stupid complaints and daft questions I get asked when working on the Customer Service Desk. The other day a lady came to the desk to ask the price of a bag of mandarins – a perfectly reasonable request, so I gave her the price of £1.99.
Then she noticed the “25% Extra Free” sticker.
“So how much would it be without the extra free?” she asked.
I had to stop and think how I could answer this without making her sound like a moron. I gave up!
“Umm... £1.99” I replied.

The following day I had a guy come to the desk looking severe an authoritative. He plonked a bag of Sainsburys fresh spaghetti on the counter.
“I’d like to complain about this – this isn’t spaghetti,” he said. “I’ve been eating spaghetti for many years and my wife and I thought we would try out your fresh spaghetti, but look at it its not even round. And this doesn’t taste like normal spaghetti. I’d like to make a complaint to Sainsburys about the quality of your spaghetti.”
Rather bemused it had dawned on me that this man had never tried fresh pasta in his life and was used to the good old round dried stuff.
Dare I argue with him that this was fresh pasta and the reason it wasn’t round was that it had gone through some kind of pasta cutter. Did he want to listen and was it worth the bother? Did he realise how much of an arse he was?
“So would you like a refund?” I asked

Sadly some people have nothing better to do in life! I am more than happy to help out with the legitimate complaints and problems, but the stupid little petty niggles do get on your tits after a while.