Art on the run

  

BIG WEST FESTIVAL: The vending machine. The lone, graffiti covered companion of the late night train station.

She is often cracked, her broken light buzzing behind a faded Pepsi or Coke logo. The last thing you would expect to receive when you enter the last remnants of your change into the slot is an original piece of art.

Most vending machines display forlorn chip bags sitting sadly under fluorescent lighting, waiting for the next hungry passerby. However, at Footscray station this month Art Vend will place a vending machine on the busiest platform - minus the salty snacks. Instead, commuters will find a system dispensing various works of art.

Nick Ilton is the Melbourne based artist behind this project and will be displaying his work as part of the Big West festival this month. Nick’s vending machine will allow commuters to purchase many different types of art for the merely $1.20 a pop. He has taken submissions from all over Australia which range from prints, drawings, photographs, poems, short stories and origami - just to name a few.

Nick purchased an old vending machine from a bikie club house, spruced it up and was ready to go. He was aware that the idea had been done elsewhere internationally but was inspired and decided to try it. The idea was submitted to the Big West festival and accepted. Since then he has had interest from a variety of Australian galleries.

Nick said that this project was mainly for fun but, “I also like the idea of taking items out of context and out of their expected environment so the vending machine is out of context because it’s not full of chips and drinks, it’s full of art, and the art is out of its normal environment because it’s not not in a gallery.”

“I like the idea of being able to participate, being able to submit a work and know it’s going to be accepted and know it’s going to be included in something. So that for me was a reasonably large catalyst for the project” said Nick who also revelled in the participatory aspect of the work by accepting submissions from artists all around Australia.

Historically, the first vending machines were invented by the Hero of Alexander and used to dispense holy water back in the first century. They were not popularised, however, until post-industrialisation.

The first vending machines to distribute art were, in fact, the first recorded instances of the machines moving into the mainstream. This was in the 1880s in London where they were used to dispense postcards. Fast forward about a century to 1966 when Yoko Ono created a “Sky Machine” - a vending machine that dispensed pieces of sky.

Yoko was part of the Fluxus movement who were famous for blurring the line between different forms of artistic media. Other Fluxus artists also used vending machines in their work as a means of distorting the line between art and the selling of art – so the buying of the art became part of the piece itself.

Art vending machines are spread across the globe, but based mainly in North America. Mostly focused on poetry, Gumball Poetry, was seen around Portland, Oregan from 1998 – 2006; Art-o-mat is probably the slickest and most professional production and have polished up old cigarette machines from the 1950s and 60s and used them to dispense art across the United States; The Daily Palette based in the 1970s in the San Francisco bay area used newspaper vending machines to distribute silk screened art editions for 25 cents. The list goes on.

The idea behind most of these works was enabling non-traditional art buyers to interact with art. This was also appealing to Nick. Passengers will bustle past the machine on their daily commute or sit next to it waiting for a late night train, as such they aren’t going out of their way to interact with the machine, and for a dollar twenty, “it’s cheaper than anything else that’s going to come out of a vending machine.” As such, the art in the machine is much more accessible to all realms of the public than art that would usually be found in a gallery.

It isn’t just the accessibility of the art that makes this idea appealing. Nick hopes that people will get something out of the art that they purchase. Perhaps it will make waiting at the train station that little bit more exciting, “Pepsi and coke are going to want to put more drinks in a vending machine than works of art but I can drink your can of coke pretty fast, it’ll take you a few minutes longer to absorb and appreciate the original art that comes out of the machine.”

When asked how he thinks people will react to the idea in Melbourne Nick says, “It hasn’t been anywhere yet so no one’s seen it in the flesh, people have seen photos of it and people have seen the website for it, but it’s not been on the streets and it’s not been interacted with but the reaction has been positive so far.”

Nick’s vending machine has life after Footscray station and although he is worried about vandals, his machine is booked to stand in galleries up until May of next year.

Anyone travelling through Footscray during the Big West Festival should keep in mind that a unique surprise from the machine awaits them, “I promise anyone that puts a dollar twenty in the machine, they’re going to get a fantastic artwork. The effort and time that people have put into submitting their works has been awesome, I’m really stoked, and I’m really humbled as well.”

ART ON THE RUN – ART VEND
Art-Vend is a unique exhibition in which paintings, prints, drawings, poems and stories will be on sale from a vending machine at Footscray Station during the Big West Festival. Commuters craving a little creativity can purchase artwork for instant gratification as they travel to and from work.