moving units...

art-vend has taken to Footscray station like a duck to water. I'm pleased to say that at the midway stage of the Big West Festival the machine is still in tip top shape, touch wood, apart from a quick maintenance call to free a runaway artwork that had wedged itself sideways somehow. The artwork in question was provided by my mother-in-law, the irony not lost on me! I'm hoping to get through a bit more art before art-vend's final day at the station this Sunday the 29th. Monday will see the machine picked up and given the next day off before delivery to Kingston Arts Centre gallery in Moorabbin on Wednesday. For all in the west, get down to Footscray before the 29th to become an art-vend collector, and for those in the south, sit tight, we'll be there soon.

day one...

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, yesterday art-vend was delivered, loaded up with heaps of tiny pieces of beautiful art, plugged in and left unsupervised! I had to hurry back due to a mild case of separation anxiety to check on her 24 hours after installation, and am pleased to report that the good people of Footscray have so far treated her well. There is still plenty of great drawings, prints, stories, poems and other awesome art bits to be packaged and loaded, just take a look at art-vend's flickr page for images http://www.flickr.com/photos/art-vend. Also take a look at these links to articles on art-vend on Artshub http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/news/visual-arts/art-on-the-run-179727 and in the local rag, The Maribyrnong Leader http://maribyrnong-leader.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/lucky-dip-for-footscray-art/.

Next stop will be Kingston Art Centre Gallery for the summer, so if you would still like to submit for art-vend there is still plenty of time and plenty of opportunity.

the eagle has landed...

life after Big West...

I'm loving it every day now when the postie comes. I've been receiving a whole heap of fantastic entries but am still looking forward to receiving a whole heap more. art-vend will be on the move after the Big West Festival, and from the 2nd of December until the 27th of February will be in the foyer of the Kingston Arts Centre Gallery http://kingstonarts.com.au. Immediately following this art-vend will be hosted by Off the Kerb www.offthekerb.com.au in Collingwood for an indefinite period. So you see, I'm not just after submissions for Big West, but for the future of art-vend as well.

I've also created a flickr page to document everyone's submissions. There is a link to the right, and also right here http://flickr.com/photos/art-vend and I will endeavour to update it as often as possible. In the meantime, submissions for Big West will be accepted until the end of the first week of November, to give me enough time to ensure all Big West entries are documented. So if you wish to be included for Big West time is running out. Submissions received after this date will still be included in art-vend and on flickr, but will be going to the other locations.

links...

www.jdavidfranzke.com

www.celestebrignac.com

www.madeinmelbourne.com.au

www.annaliesecomelab.com

www.malobisinha.com

www.irmacalabrese.com

www.artds.com.au

www.shooteverything.com.au

www.lorrainepilgrim.com/kirsten-reed/kirsten-reed.htm

www.laurenmurphy.webs.com

what I know...

The positive feedback for art-vend has been fantastic and I'm really looking forward to receiving every one's artworks over the next few weeks. But before I get caught, I'm going to admit that while I came up with art-vend independently, google serves to trump everyone who thinks they have an original idea. Matt LeClair of www.callithump.org has a wonderful site about vending machines which dispense art other than art-vend, and has graciously agreed to add me to his page. So the least I can do is direct you to his. art-vend should be up as an artist run initiative on www.crawl.net.au very soon too, another site worth directing visitors of this site to. The scoop lately is that art-vend will be hitting the road after the Big West Festival, firstly for a stint at the Kingston Arts Centre in Moorabbin, then for a spell at Off the Kerb gallery in Collingwood. The dates for these two residencies will be confirmed over the coming weeks, so while work is being accepted for the Big West Festival right now, I'll be accepting submissions beyond those dates (nov 20-29) and beyond and beyond.

renovated machine

Here is a picture of the newly refurbished vending machine that will be going on to Footscray train station in November. When I bought it, it was a dirty grey hammertone on a rotted out grey chipboard plinth. I've endeavoured to make it a bit easier on the eye as well as a bit more durable and suitable for different environs. It has the capacity to accommodate a lightbox up the top, but I elected to leave it out at this stage because the machine being mechanical doesn't require power. This would change if I filled it with light globes. But it's there, so maybe later.