The Evening Post and Mail

The Evening Post and Mail

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Art is better than cigarettes

Art is better than cigarettes

On $5 slots in Vegas, the library in Sheboygan, and vending machines for high culture

Brian Gongol's avatar
Brian Gongol
Apr 28, 2023
2

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Art is better than cigarettes
Share

The Art-o-mat project takes old cigarette vending machines and converts them to distribute little works of art instead. They're all over the country, but there's a particularly busy set in Las Vegas. For $5, it's a better guaranteed return than any other machine in the city.

â–  Aside from the excellent repurposing of machines that formerly dispensed slow death by the pack, the Art-o-mat idea does something exceptionally worthwhile: It makes art fun. Specifically, it makes the acquisition of art thoroughly democratic, public, and even a touch whimsical. What's going to come out of the machine? The user has a general idea, but it's uncertain until the piece actually lands with a "thud" in the dispenser tray.

â–  Art should be a part of ordinary life. We celebrate trips to MoMA and the Louvre, but there's every reason to celebrate small installations, too. No city is required by law to have a museum, but those that do reveal a motivation to show themselves off.

â–  The Art-o-mat, though, can be a miniature gallery in a place as unassuming as a brewery outside of Joliet or a library in Sheboygan. And it should be seen as complementary with the development of artificial-intelligence image generators like Dall-E: The more we come to expect art all around (of whatever origins), the more we normalize appreciation for aesthetics. The world need not be ugly.

From dead spot along the casino wall to art gallery


Subscribe to The Evening Post and Mail

Launched 3 years ago
The digital evening newspaper editorial of the Great Midwest. Committed to being thought-provoking, not mindlessly provocative.
2

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Art is better than cigarettes
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Expand the House
On Calvin Coolidge, orderly debate, and the need to expand the House in order to dilute the power of the cranks
Jan 9, 2023 â€¢ 
Brian Gongol
2

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Expand the House
Load balancing our cities
On macroeconomic forces, the original EPCOT vision, and what to do with America's fastest-shrinking counties
Apr 11, 2023 â€¢ 
Brian Gongol

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Load balancing our cities
Keep learning
On diminishing marginal returns, Social Security tables, and synthesizing new knowledge into old age
May 5, 2024 â€¢ 
Brian Gongol
2

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Keep learning

Ready for more?

© 2025 Brian Gongol
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.