The pull of culture. (Artifact).YES, THAT'S A cigarette machine A cigarette machine is a vending machine that takes cash in payment for packets of cigarettes. Cigarette machines have steadily been on the decline because they allow minors to buy cigarettes without having to show age identification. , or at least it was. The goods it currently vends vend v. vend·ed, vend·ing, vends v.tr. 1. a. To sell by means of a vending machine. b. To sell, especially by peddling. 2. aren't packs of butts; they're works of art. Each is about the size of a Lucky Strike package, and you buy it by inserting your coins and yanking on the machine. This is an Art*o*mat*. The first one was born, appropriately, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 185,776; in 2004 the city annexed an additional 17,483 raising the population to 203,259. , the 1997 creation of artist Clark Whittington Clark Whittington is the creator of the Art-o-mat. Art-o-mat machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. There are 82 active machines in various locations throughout the country. . There are now more than 40 scattered across the country (this one's in Massachusetts) dispensing photos, paintings, sculpture, assemblages, and other "artpacks" in various retail setting. Art*o*mat's sponsoring organization, Artists in Cellophane cellophane, thin, transparent sheet or tube of regenerated cellulose. Cellophane is used in packaging and as a membrane for dialysis. It is sometimes dyed and can be moisture-proofed by a thin coating of pyroxylin. , says the effort "combines the worlds of art and commerce." The group "wants to make art approachable" and asks, "What better way to do this, than with a heavy cold steel machine?" Good question. The machines manage to combine tobacco nostalgia with retro design (many Art*o*mats come from landfills), and there's nothing like an obsolete machine to reveal how design humanizes technology within a period's values. The effect only increases with outlawed machines, because the old "humanizing" values are forbidden. Art*o*mats make their art approachable by literally commodifying it. Caution: This could become habit forming. |
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