We Live in the Future: Art Now Sold in a Vending Machine

  • Share
  • Read Later

Forget the gallery–now art lovers can get their fix out of a vending machine, reports Reuters.   

Lars Kaiser, a 35-year-old artist from Potsdam, Germany, came up with the idea to give people the chance to buy small samples of inexpensive art pieces around the clock. Created by 140 professional artists, the one-off sculptures, collages and paintings fit into small boxes which the machines sell.  The boxes, priced at $2.78, contain inserts giving details of the artist’s life, work and website address. To make sure they are exposed to something new, customers are not allowed to select works by particular artists.  Kaiser isn’t making money from the venture, but said the machines have become so popular he’s rolled out 100 at a rate of two to three a month. (Read about Shoes in a Vending Machine.)

In an effort to spread art to the masses, he’s targeted places where art isn’t widely available, including public buildings, bars and on exterior walls across Germany.  “We wanted to get art into places that don’t have anything to do with art so that it would become a part of everyday life,” Kaiser told Reuters. Although these art filled vending machines haven’t arrived in the United States yet, Kaiser said he has plans to install them in the Netherlands next month.  (Via Reuters.)

(See the Human Powered Vending Machine and the 50 Best Inventions of 2009.)