Seizure - Blue Crystal Interior Installation

Just a stones throw away from my campus at Elephant and Castle I had heard of that a new Art Installation called ‘Seizure’ that had opened just around the corner. Being curious I wanted to see what all the excitement was about I made my way to Harper Road, just along the New Kent Road to see Roger Hiorns latest project. The day was a typical grey London Autumn / Winter day which added to the feeling of desolation to the area that is surrounded with post-war housing estates, a secondary school and a park.
Walking into a type of Cour d'Honneur that was surrounded with boarded up low rise apartments we arrived on site. At one end of the block a queue had formed. After waiting for a few minutes in an opposite derelict empty apartment with metal grills, a smashed bath and patterned wallpaper peeling from the walls, we were issued with gloves and changed into rubber boots before making our way across the Cour d'Honneur to an opposite apartment.

The whole interior space of a couple of rooms (bedroom and bathroom) had been stripped and secured with a steel reinforced tank and liquid slow cooling copper sulphate solution poured in and left for two weeks. What was so extraordinary and such an interesting contradiction was how incredibly depressing the apartments were and then suddenly you are presented with this ‘oasis’ or artists refuge. I couldn't help wonder who had lived in the space prior to the installation and how possibly ‘loaded’ it was with emotions. Could someone have been born there? Did someone at some point die there? The emotional narratives of these spaces always creep into my mind.
The crystals had formed from floor to ceiling covering every inch of the horizontal and vertical planes. The floor was quite uneven and tidal ridges had formed and boot prints marked the floor. The remaining lighting had enormous crystals hanging from them and after squeezing through the crystal encrusted walls into the bath room the outline of the bath could be seen although I did suddenly feel that I would have liked to have seen more of these encrusted forms such as furniture that may have been left in the space, however the space was stunning.
Proceeding back to return my boots and gloves in the opposite derelict apartment, what I did find particularly interested is how the buildings reflect each other in size and space and in some way become a kind of before and after, although of course this was probably never the intention. However, how could we learn from this artist in developing our own concepts within Interior Design? What other applications could it have? How could this concept be translated into workable environment?

The images below are of the bathrooms in the 'Seizure' apartment and the reflected apartment opposite.

Why have Retail Standards?

You may well be looking forward to a Summer holiday, perhaps travelling somewhere exotic – I say this bearing in mind that although being based in London as I write this, that London can be exotic to many travellers especially if you are not experiencing such a currently cold climate and yearn for one? Anyway, with this in mind imagine you begin your journey. Bags are packed, journey to the airport was easy, flight was comfortable and then you arrive at the hotel. This ‘exotic’ place that you may have looked forward to visiting for months and travelled hours to get to is surrounded by a building site; maybe your hotel has not actually been built? OK well that’s an extreme example. Incidentally isn't it is amazing how carefully hotel rooms are photographed from very flattering angles and naturally only the best suite can be viewed on-line? Imagine the disappointment.... maybe you feel the disappointment right now? Maybe, like me you have been in this situation? I once stayed with a colleague in a Hotel room that had no windows, well it did have one window but it faced onto the communal staircase with a very short burgundy velour curtain and we slept shoulder to shoulder in a ‘double’ bed with an electric fan whirring above us having take it in turns throughout the night to burn incense sticks to keep the mosquito's coming through the holes in the ceiling and the electrics buzzing all night would have had 'Health and Safety' going mad.
Once you get over the hotel shock, deciding not to stay but then staying anyway because its such a nightmare to move, you are tired and getting your money back is more hassle than its worth.
You decide perhaps to journey to the beach, your perhaps expecting this.........

and you get this? (this is real)

Or perhaps take in some culture? You're expecting this.......

and you get this? (this is real too)

How would you feel now?
Imagine your customer. They arrive at your store. Maybe they had travelled across the country, perhaps across the world, not necessarily to shop with you but perhaps visit you are on their journey. Your customer approaches your store and sees the following?

How does your customer feel now?

Your customer may not initially see all of your faults directly. Perhaps they don’t even notice that your mannequins have their hands on the wrong arms or even think that merchandise crammed into a window is a sign of a desperate retailer etc. However, these are a ‘red rag’ and clear indicator of a retailer who doesn't care? Perhaps staff are unhelpful, or perhaps they are helpful but the environment looks untidy. This to me usually means they are desperate for your cash but the merchandise is not worth the money?

So why have retail standards and what does this include??

Store maintenance: Anything broken should be fixed or removed. Leaking ceilings and missing lights should be repaired or replaced

Replenishment of merchandise: Merchandise should be replenished but never so much that it is unshoppable.

House keeping: All areas should be kept clean and tidy, this also reduces the amount of damaged goods.

Staff appearance: Staff do not always have to wear smart uniforms however they should perhaps be clean and perhaps wearing some of the merchandise. This also shows a customer how to 'wear' something.

Health and Safety: Provides the customer and employees with a clean and safe environment in which to work or shop.

Whats wrong in the picture below?