Art vending machines



    Artists in cellophane celebrate the anniversary of Art * o * mat
    It all started somewhere in 1997, when an artist named Clark Whittington was going to show his art in the town with the "cigarette" name Winston-Salem, which in North Carolina.


    He decided to do this at a personal exhibition at a local cafe (Mary's Of Course Cafe). Then the forbidden “cigarette machine” rushed into his eyes. Whittington suddenly remembered his friend, who was violently reacting to the rustling cellophane: if someone nearby unpacked something edible, the artist’s friend lost control of himself and tried to instantly get the same thing.

    Comparing this with an idle machine, Clark turned to Cynthia Giles, the cafe owner, with a request to use the machine. She allowed, and the artist hung 12 paintings on the walls, and next installed a machine that sold black and white photographs of Whittington for a dollar apiece.


    Today, about 400 “cellophane artists” from 10 countries participate in the Art-o-mat project. And if you want to become one of them, you will have to adopt strict guidelines, any deviation from which does not promise anything good.

    1. the size of your sample should not go beyond the standard dimensions of 54 x 82 x 21 mm, dictated, as you know, by the specifics of “cigarette machines” set up to sell cigarette packs.



    2. If artists do not like your sample, they will not return it to you, but they will not use it themselves. This can happen if you break the rules and use magnets, balloons or something containing peanuts.

    3. If your prototype is accepted, then AIC will send a notification so that you start small-scale production: the minimum circulation is 50 copies. You send the finished batch to “Artists in Cellophane”, after a while (maybe even in a few months) they will answer you in which city and car the works will be sold.


    Based on Memebrana

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