A group of artists in Brighton have taken their works off the gallery wall and put them on sale in a vending machine.
Creating a democratising way to buy art outside of gallery spaces
The Vending Machine Art Gallery is a pop up art retail concept that sells prints from emerging artists from vending machines. Creating a democratising way to buy art outside of gallery spaces. The machine, located in a club in the centre of Brighton, East Sussex, offers prospective buyers prints from emerging artists for prices ranging from £20 ($25.75) to £50 ($65.65)
Selling art from a vending machine has a democratising effect
The Vending Machine Art Gallery wants to sell art from a vending machine. Selling art from a vending machine has a democratising effect. It creates an experience that is the same for everyone. Rich or poor, you stand in front of the vending machine and buy art in exactly the same way. No matter who you are, the experience is exactly the same. It makes it accessible. The artists behind the idea say they want to make buying art the same as Andy Warhol described drinking Coca-Cola.
“…the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.”
They sell limited edition prints from emerging artists. Each artist provides a piece of art which they then get printed in limited quantities. They frame a copy of each print and display them around the vending machine with the prints on sale in tubes inside the vending machine.
Source: TheVendingMachineArtGallery Main Image: EuroNews
How does a Vending Machine Art Gallery work?
The Vending Machine Art Gallery is based on simplicity, as they explain on their website:
- You look at the prints on the wall
- You like a piece of art
- You put money in the vending machine
- You get your art
If you see something and you like it you can buy it. You don’t have to be an expert and know a lot about it.
The Vending Machine Art Gallery aims to revolutionise the way people buy the stuff they decorate their rooms with. The first project saw artists on the cusp like Corey Hemingway sell fine art prints to people who would have otherwise bought a picture of a flower printed millions of times from Ikea.
Bring art back to the people. Make it interactive. Make it accessible. Make it affordable.
Source: TheVendingMachineArtGallery
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