tim hunkin/wooden coin operated machines 2

		THE ORACLE, 1981 You first have to think of a question to ask her. Once a coin is inserted, she stares into your eyes, whirls the disk (in her left hand) and then lowers it on your hand (placed on the box in the foreground). The tin then moves over the disk and shakes sand through stencil cut-outs in the disk. This 'writes' the word yes or no on your hand. It was built to accompany Guy Richardson’s Punch and Judy show on Yarmouth beach, where it never worked well, but then went to Cabaret mechanical theatre in Covent Garden for many years. Anyone doing the maintenance at Cabaret disliked it because the sand got everywhere, (particularly destroying the coin counting machines), and because the frame had a reputation for giving electric shocks.

THE QUEUE
1980-2003

This lived in Neal’s Yd, Covent Garden next to a bakery. At lunchtime people queue for the bakery next door.
Insert a coin and a sign in the door pops up saying ‘Sorry, no bread left’. The figures then react in turn – the old lady’s eyes pop out, the girl’s jaw drops, the gent frowns, and finally the man at the back turns to the spectators and spits at them.
the money it took went to the Big Issue foundation.

AIR RAID, 1981
(Seagull theatre, Lowestoft)

Place 10p in the slot and the seagulls start swirling round the theatre foyee. The faster they rotate the further they swing out. Push the fire button and one of the gulls shits a polo mint. With practice, it is possible to aim the mint quite accurately.
seagulls.jpg (9249 bytes)

THE PHILOSOPHERS, 1981

Two identical figures, one labelled inspiration and one labelled frustration. A compressor builds up suspense for about 15 seconds, then inspiration lights up (the fibreglass is translucent) and frustration blows misty air at you. This was the collecting box at Norwich art centre until the heads were stolen one night.
philosophers.jpg (6460 bytes)