Vending Art

Is it ‘art’ if you can buy it from a vending machine? That’s the crux of Ivan Lam’s installation. The Malaysian artist invites his peers to submit an original work the size of a business card, which will then be sealed in a Perspex case and added to a physical vending machine. And, yes, you can purchase these bite-sized portions of art. As cute as it sounds, Lam’s work has a deeper message: a study of the often-opaque selection process of art fairs.