Dispensing happiness

Today, in Frankfurt, I made a wonderful discovery. There on the station was a vending machine, not for drinks or snacks, but for modern art! In a sleek black box, were rows of small contemporary artefacts, ranging from jewellery to T-shirts to pencil cases. Prices varied from 1 to upwards of 50 Euros and you could pay by cash or card. It was like a tiny contemporary gallery or museum shop sitting quietly amongst the bagel stalls and ice cream stands.

In order fully to experience this wonder, I bought the cheapest item in the machine: a 1€ white box containing a length of coloured ribbon. Mine was yellow, but the following boxes included blue, red and pink. I enjoyed watching the clean-lined black shelf move up the machine to bring my box carefully to the bottom. But, this made me wonder how successful such a machine can be. I bought the cheapest thing, because I didn’t trust the view that I was getting of anything more expensive. I will keep the ribbon because of the circumstances in which I got it, but otherwise it doesn’t fit with the other more expensive designed objects on sale here. This vending machine is a bizarre mix of a display case and a shop, and is both an exciting mix of both and somehow not quite successful as either. I’d love to see how one was received in St Pancras Station or Westfield.