D Monday, November 9, 2009 METRO Design prize for load of bollards A NETWORK of bleeping bollards has won a competition to create a travel system for people with disabilities. The 24 Hour Universal Design Challenge, which was held in Dublin at the weekend and co-hosted by the National Disability Authority, challenged five teams to design, in just 24 hours, a system to help people with disabilities negotiate a given route in Dublin. The winning designer, Peter Crowley, working with design partner Bob Kelly who has low vision, equipped everyday street bollards with navigation units that deliver an audio signal. Agassi stands over drugs confession in new book FORMER Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi has defended his decision to publish the fact that he took crystal meth during his tennis career and then lied to the authorities to avoid a ban. Speaking from Las Vegas, where he is promoting his autobiography, Open, he said: It wasnt an option for me to do a book that was a fraud of what Ive been through. My story is relevant in peoples lives, not just to people who struggle with drugs but people struggling with their own demons who can take some inspiration or tools away from this. Agassi confessed to taking crystal meth over a period of months in 1997, at the age of 27.Agassi: Took drugs Politicians come under art attackBy colm kelpie Feet of clay: Trial And errors depicts Bertie Ahern at the mahon Tribunal mean guillotine: mary Harney and HSe boss Brendan Drumm SCULPTURES of Bertie Ahern at the Mahon Tribunal and health boss Brendan Drumm wielding a guillotine form part of two new exhibitions casting a wry look at Irish society. One piece depicts Mary Harney in a hospital bed above a patient on the floor, while another portrays a pair of semi-na- ked pensioners stripped by cutbacks. The carefully crafted ceramic carica- tures on sale at the Gallery Zozimus on Francis Street in Dublin were designed by artist Brigit Beemster to reflect her frustration with the countrys leaders. The Sligo sculptor said the political class were failing the least well-off: I feel a bit for them (politi- cians) as theyre caught between the electorate and business interests, but they should be strong enough to say This is my pro- gramme, Ms Beemster, 48, said. One exhibition, Frolitics and Econom- ics, is made up of 19 mostly ceramic pieces portraying the demise of the econ- omy. One shows an elderly man and woman stripped to their underwear rep- resenting the suffering of the elderly. A lot of fiends of mine lost their pen- sions and they paid into it for 40 years, Ms Beemster said. A sculpture of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern with brown envelopes poking out of his pockets in front of Judge Alan Ma- hon has an asking price of 895, while another model shows cabinet ministers in bins with banana skins on the ground around them. Ms Beemster says it de- picts how politicians have slipped up in dealing with the crisis. But Ms Harney bears the brunt of Ms Beemsters satire. Nine pieces poke fun at the health system, forming a separate exhibition called The Story Of Mary Blarney. Some show Mary visit- ing a GP or in hospital, and one has her next to HSE boss Brendan Drumm with a guillotine beside him. Ive heard terrible stories, of people who were neglected. I realised we had a two-tier system. I found that immoral. I had a neighbour die on a waiting list. I find that disgusting, she said. i had a neighbour die on a waiting list index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html