Real live post with a hand written address is always exciting and when the envelope is colourful, cushioned and from Sri Lanka its arrival is a major event. I couldn’t imagine what could be inside or why it may be addressed to me. Then, as the thin bristled hand brush dropped out I recalled a conversation I’d had a few weeks ago in Mulheim and it all made sense.

Of All The People In All The World was in Mulheim and I’d just spoken at the official opening when a woman came up to me and started asking me about the brushes we used. It was an unusual start to a conversation because although we choose the brushes carefully we don’t consider them a particularly noteworthy element of a show that provokes so much debate in other directions. Nevertheless the woman was interested in the brushes so we talked brushes. It emerged that she had recently been bequeathed a collection of brushes on the death of a friend. She evidently wasn’t keen on continuing the collection but at the same time sentiment prevented her disposing of the collection unthinkingly – she wondered if we could make use of one of the brushes which was similar in design to those we already used. I replied that that we would be honoured to adopt this brush, that it would be put to good use and the story of its journey to us would be added to the richness of all subsequent shows.

So now you’ve heard it, the story of the new brush.