The vending machines goes on display next week
Supamatic, a refurbished vending machine filled with art, products and unexpected curiosities created by Bristol artists, makers and creatives, is launching at Watershed(Image: Bristol Post)
A refurbished vending machine filled with art, products and unexpected curiosities created by Bristol artists and creatives, is launching at the city’s Watershed venue.
Sustainability is central to the project called Supamatic, which aims to rescue and renovate older vending machines that are increasingly being replaced by new AI-powered models. Each machine is given a new lease of life, wrapped in artwork by a local artist and stocked with locally made goods in eco-friendly packaging. The artwork wrapping the machine at Watershed was created by South West-based artist Scotty Gillespie.
The vending machine, which goes on display from the evening of Tuesday, July 28, will be filled mainly featuring work from Bristol creatives including work from Bristol artists, Edie Woolf and Rebel Patch.
Edie Woolf is a comic artist, illustrator animator and screen printer with a love of bright colours and deep messages conveyed with cute characters. She likes to make comics about her experiences in the hopes that people can relate, connect, ultimately feel less alone. “Feeling my feelings” is at the core of everything she does.
While Rebel Patch is a repair and upcycling artist based in Bristol and makes limited edition art patches in collaboration with other local artists.
Rebel Patch started as a way to give people more tools and creative techniques to personalise their clothing whilst also giving artists a different kind of format to play with Amy and Dan Chadney, founders of Supamatic said: “We want buying local art to feel as easy and irresistible as buying a chocolate bar! Supamatic brings together Bristol artists, the fun and nostalgia of a vending machine, and a brilliantly unexpected way to put creativity into everyday places. Launching at Watershed feels especially exciting because it is already such a lively part of Bristol’s creative community. The machine is colourful and packed with work that deserves to be discovered.”
They added: “For us, this is what an innovative creative economy can look like: artists reaching new audiences and earning from their work, people discovering art in a completely unexpected way, and an old machine being given a joyful new purpose.”