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BLAKE FALL CONROY’S “MINIMUM WAGE MACHINE” is a penny-dispensing Rube Goldberg machine that “allows anybody to work for minimum wage.” The machine has custom electronics, a change sorter, wood, plexiglass, a motor, misc. hardware, lot’s of pennies, and measures approx. 15 x 19 x 72 inches. The minimum wage machine allows anybody to work for minimum wage.
Here’s the concept, and the way it works: turning the crank will yield one penny every 5.04 seconds, for $7.15 an hour (NY State minimum wage). That means, if you can physically turn the crank for an 8-hour day, you can earn $57.20. If you stop turning the crank, you stop receiving money. The machine’s mechanism and electronics are powered by the hand crank, and pennies are stored in a plexiglass box.Makes working for minimum wage feel pretty depressing. But the artist has an idea and is quoted as saying: “In the future, I see possibility in a lot of these machines hooked into a grid, with people performing basic human labor for money. Perhaps a new form of renewable energy generation? A new kind of supercomputer with thousands of people performing basic calculations at minimum wage “stations” across the world? Who knows?
All of Ganson’s machines begin with rough to detailed sketches. Click on drawing for larger view.
ARTHUR GANSON IS AN ARTIST WHO MAKES COMPLEX, KINETIC MACHINES with an existentialist approach. Unlike the whimsey machines of Rube Goldberg, Ganson’s machines take on more than just movement. With Ganson, you can get the feeling that you are witnessing subtle messages on the failed and fragile human condition—isolation, hopelessness, manipulation and the sometimes mundane repetition of life.
I selected this particular machine to show you because, as Ganson writes, it was made from a discarded baby doll that Ganson picked up along a road. I like it because of the subtle movement. Viewed from above, the baby doll (representative of man), is laid bare on an altar-like pedestal of stiff wires, it’s creepy movement slowly controlled by unseen forces. It’s a Frankenstein-like effect, a sacrificial offering.
There are many examples of Ganson’s work online, and I’ll be bringing you more from time to time. Enjoy this video, photos of other machines and some of his drawings for now.
Oh, btw, Ganson (b. 1955) is the inventor of the toy Toobers and Zots, has exhibited his work internationally and was a conference speaker at TED in Monterrey, CA.
