The Perform-O-Mat

What if you could sell theater from a vending machine?

A few years back, I participated in a group art show that turned the lobby of an ad agency into a marketplace of vending machines that sold affordable art by local artists. We were interested in commenting on the accessibility of arts in Portland; we'd recently volunteered at an elementary school and were surprised to see firsthand the lack of arts education. For a city that prides itself on creativity, the city was doing surprisingly little to create the artists of the future. We donated all the funds raised through the show to organizations supporting K-12 arts education in Portland.

I was tasked, along with two other artists, to build some experimental vending machines to further engage visitors to the show. We wanted to find a way to include more than just visual art in our show so we started discussing ways in which we could could vend live performances. We came up with the idea of the Perform-O-Mat.

Visitors walked up to the 8 by 10’ vending machine, inserted five dollars, chose between ‘Music,’ ‘Dance,’ or ‘Drama,’ and then entered through the door. Once inside, they were transported to a classical theater complete with red velvet curtains, a Grecian-inspired proscenium, fold-down theater seats and a surround sound speaker system.

Audience members were treated to private performances by a fourteen year-old opera prodigy, a baroque string trio, ballerinas from the Oregon Ballet Theater and Portuguese folk singers. Though the performances only lasted 2 - 5 minutes, audience members left moved, and occasionally in tears, after witnessing what some called 'the most intimate theatrical experience of their lives'.