Art-o-mat promotes artists while serving local communities—one

Vending
Where Art & Commerce
Meet
Art-o-mat promotes artists while serving
local communities—one retrofitted
cigarette vending machine at a time.
Andrea M. Rotondo
“Our goal is to get art into people’s
leasing fee that covers the machine’s
hands. That’s what we want to do,”
restoration
and
customization,
asserts Whittington who continually
delivery, the initial complement of
scouts new artists to supply art for his vending
art to be dispensed and an on-site
machines. “We’re making some money, but we’re also creating
art lecture given by Whittington.
connections, meeting artists and potential patrons.”
Many venues use Whittington’s
What’s in it for the venues that host an Art-o-mat vending
visit as a chance to launch their
machine? “Art-o-mat is often the cheapest thing they have in
machine within the community and it often builds a lot
rtist Clark Whittington remembers an incident that
their place. It’s an ice breaker and helps engage customers
of local media buzz. The leasing fee for a machine varies
occurred in the late 1990s. He noticed a friend’s
as soon as they walk through the door,” notes Whittington.
depending on the machine and level of customization, with
visceral reaction whenever he heard the crinkle
That’s why host locations vary from museums and art
$5,000 being on the high end. Whittington says that hosts
of cellophane. That sound, often associated with someone
galleries to Whole Foods grocery stores. “I think that an Art-
net about $1.50 from each sale of a piece of art that retails
tearing open a bag of chips or other snack food, made his
o-mat can sit anywhere as long as the person on the other end
for $5.
friend want to immediately grab a snack too. He couldn’t help
gets it and wants it,” says Whittington. “There are no rules
Artists in Cellophane assert that their hosts are not
himself; the sound of cellophane was his cue to snack. Could
really. For-profit venues that just enjoy what we’re doing and
terribly concerned with the bottom line when it comes to
this Pavlovian reaction somehow be used to entice shoppers
want to be part of it. I have one machine in a hair salon and
their Art-o-mat machines. “They’d rather have something
she only has one client at a time. We also have machines in
that’s unique and helps them
Las Vegas that thousands of people see each day.”
engage their visitors,” says
A
to purchase other types of items? It was an idea worth
considering and one that would eventually turn into Artists
piece of art. The machine was an immediate conversation
in Cellophane, the company responsible for the ingenious
piece and the hit of the show.
Art-o-mat vending machines that dispense unique works of
art for just $5.
Whittington, “and that usually
with malls unless they have a community aspect to their
translates into sales in other
areas of what they do.”
there are more than 120 Art-o-mat vending machines in the
business plan. Whole Foods Market and places like that work
was
United States, Canada and overseas. These machines are
very well because they are in the business of reaching out to
staging an art show in Winston-
successful in a variety of retail environments, from Whole
the community, but not every business is like that.”
Salem, North Carolina. Part of that
Foods Market locations to fast-food outlets like District Taco
exhibit consisted of a retrofitted
to hotels like The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
In
SE_Art_O_Mat_Vending.indd 1-2
He admits that he hasn’t “had the best luck negotiating
That’s how Artists in Cellophane got its start. Today
1997,
Whittington
Whittington retrofits each cigarette machine that
eventually becomes an Art-o-mat and can even custom
cigarette vending machine. He
Yet, while the goal of most vending machines is to make
design the look of the machine to the host’s specifications.
refurbished a machine, loaded it
money, Artists in Cellophane are in the game for a slightly
“It’s total ground-up restoration of the machines—inside
with cellophane-wrapped photographs
different reason. According to Whittington, their mission is
and out,” notes Whittington.
mounted on blocks and tagged the
to “encourage art consumption by combining the worlds of
Some machines take $5
device “Art-o-mat.” For just one
art and commerce in an innovative form. AIC believes that
bills while others are token-
dollar, visitors could explore the
art should be progressive, yet personal and approachable”
operated.
machine, drop a few quarters, pull the
and these conversation-starting vending machines help the
lever and be rewarded with a unique
organization do just that.
Artists
For more information, visit Artomat.org.
in
Cellophane
charges hosts a one-time
Andrea M. Rotondo is editor-in-chief of Specialty Retail Report. You can
email her at arotondo@specialtyretail.com.
2/18/15 11:44:47 AM