This was one of the most important digital artworks that I managed to see this year. Whilst there is a lot of representational net art that represents the potential of new modes of communication this work is live and it works on the basis of expectation. We know that bad news is coming and therefore we know that this work will function. It is not based on our understanding of technology as a medium, it is based on a perception as living organism with predictable characteristics.
Whilst the BBC are a public service, so are vending machines and the relationship between the these two forms is crucial. They are both classless.
The folling has been taken from HERE
Original Statement
'A rundown but functional old vending machine stood alone in the Dukes Bar. Every now and again, without warning, it would spring into life - spewing out free packets of crisps for gallery visitors. The machine had been modified. It no longer functioned in the conventional way - at the whim of snack-hungry theater goers - but instead found itself in the control of outside forces...
Its new nervous system was a networked computer. Hidden out of view and running special software, it continually scanned the BBC News RSS feed - commanding the machine only to release snacks when words relating to the recession make the headlines.
Whilst seemingly an act of generosity - gifting free food at moments when further doom and gloom is reported - the Vending Machine also hinted towards a time in the future when our access to food may literally be determined by wider political or environmental events. We may not be able to access what we want, when we want, at the touch of a button'
