Lars Kaiser, a 35-year-old artist from Potsdam, Germany said he has installed about 100 art vending machines in public buildings, bars and on exterior walls throughout Germany. The refurbished vending machines once sold cigarettes, chewing gum or condoms.
The vending machines are art in them self. The artist who wanted to make art more accessible has installed vending machines across Germany offering art miniatures in small boxes. Kaiser came up with the novel idea to give art lovers the chance to buy the inexpensive art samples from vending machines around the clock. He said “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 said the machines did not allow customers to select work by particular artists so that they would be exposed to something new.
The artists are very creative,” he said. “The boxes contain every kind of art you find in a larger format elsewhere.”Kaiser said he did not make any money from the initiative.”We could make profit if we charged four or five euros for the art but we don’t want to,we’re more interested in art and in making it accessible,” he said.Kaiser said a lot of customers write to the artists.
We get good feedback, especially from people in the age range 20-30 who wouldn’t normally go to a gallery,” he said.The boxes which cost two euros ($2.78) in the Berlin area and three euros elsewhere,contain inserts giving details of the artist’s life, work and website address.
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