Flux Stop
Identity for a fluxus vending machine designed to fit in.
- Branding/Packaging
- Inkjet Printing, Acrylic Tube
- 2019
Taking inspiration from the Fluxus movement and the FluxKits developed and distributed by George Maciunas, Flux Stop co-opts the graphic language of a generic 2000’s vending machines to provide packaged art kits, on demand. Aiming to erase the borders of artistic intuitions and the art market, Flux Stop allows passer-bys to purchase a gamified art generation kit
In the words of the Fluxus Manifesto: “Purge the world of bourgeois sickness, “intellectual”, professional & commercialized culture, PURGE the world of dead art, imitation, artificial art, abstract art, illusionistic art, mathematical art…” With this in mind, I chose an old vending machine on 24th street as my site of inspiration.
This project all started with one particular vending machine on 24th Street in San Francisco. The nondescript and generic “Cold Drink” advertisement operates as a camouflage–I passed by this machine dozens of times before realizing it existed. In re- branding to Flux Stop, the identity had to fit into the context of that particular vending machine. I wanted the identity to not feel too contemporary – I wanted to use the collective memory of 90’s and 2000’s soda brands as a camouflage for the Fluxus art kits.
But just as important as the camouflage, is the reward for being found. Any passer-by fortunate enough to encounter Flux Stop is rewarded with an interactive and gamified artistic endeavor in the spirit of Fluxus. Flux Stop provides three different kits, deployed at random. The games are action-based and guide the user towards a slightly chaotic relinquishment of artistic control.
