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Comment
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(9/25/01 11:50:57 am)
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Fairy tale vending machine
Among all the sad news on this board, I thought to share an "encounter" that made me smile and warmed my heart yesterday. I was in Berlin for a course in a special accounting software and was using the subway - now please note that neither the circumstances nor the means of transport were very romantic and that Berlin is not, by any means, a city that makes you think of fairy tales. However, when I got off the subway, my eyes fell on a row of vending machines along the subway wall. Curiously, I looked closer at a machine in all the colors of the rainbow, painted with fireworks. And, believe it or not, it was a fairy tale-vending machine. I had to smile - right there between all the cigarette- and condom-selling machines, one that sells fairy tales!
To be honest, I didn't buy a tale. I was afraid that I wouldn't like it, that my expectations would be disappointed. I felt I liked it better just knowing it was there. And if I remember correctly, it was at the station Zoo, which is usually more "famous" or rather, infamous, for drug dealíng. Just seeing it in this place made me feel even better. It is a tiny spark of something friendly in an ugly world. But it is there!
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Helen
Registered User
(9/25/01 6:03:35 pm)
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A story waiting to be written ...
What an absolutely lovely sight to see! That deserves a place in a story or poem ...
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Kate
Unregistered User
(9/26/01 10:57:50 am)
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Photograph
Lotti,
I am completely fascinated. Would you be at all inclined or able to photograph the machine? I am very, very interested in it. I have been collecting images of strange vending machines for two years for a project. My friend just brought me one from Italy, from a bar, that sells teeny tine one-use toothbrushes with the toothpaste already applied for one-night stands! I would reimburse you to photograph it and mail the photo . . .
Or perhaps you could take some information off the machine as to manufacturer and maintenance??? I would be interested in attempting to have one installed here, in fact, or a replica made, or some-such. I have a grantor in mind that might actually fund such a thing . . .
Kate
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Kate
Unregistered User
(9/26/01 11:00:31 am)
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Or, the artist's name?
I have a feeling the machine is probably part of an installation piece? (Or is it from an actual vending company?)
If it's an installation, do you know the artist?
Sorry my first post didn't include that question--no attempt to steal the artist's idea was meant to be implied in my desire to see such a machine made for display or use here. Obviously.
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(9/27/01 12:13:24 pm)
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Sorry!
Kate,
I am so sorry! I was in Berlin only for that course I mentioned, and did not take a picture of the machine. I had the impression it was a real vending machine, not an installation and it was among a row of other machines. However, if I go there again or know of someone going, I will have a picture taken for you and get a closer look at the company who installed it. I am not sure (I didn't look that closely) but it could have been not a commercial company but some club? (Verein, as it is called in German)
Again, so sorry for wetting your Appetite and not being able to deliver!
Lotti
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(9/27/01 12:50:26 pm)
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Just an idea
Just thought of something. I have here the adress of the Tourist Center in Berlin. Maybe they can help?! Especially if you want the Manufacturer or such. I try to remember as much as possible, but I only know for sure that it was a subway (U-Bahn) station. I think it was at Bahnhof Zoo (Zoo Railway station). The line should have been either U9 coming from Osloer Strasse (Oslo street) or U2 coming from Alexander Platz (Alexander square).
Hope this helps a little... Again, if not or just in case, I will be on the lookout for friends or aquaintances going to Berlin.
Here the link to the Tourist people:
www.berlin.de/TouristCent...index.html
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Kate
Unregistered User
(9/27/01 5:42:05 pm)
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Thank you!
Lotti,
I'll let you know if I find anything out. I'm on a search now! I will also ask a friend who lives near Berlin from time to time to check for it. I would be fascinated if it was a real vending machine. Are stories often sold in vending machines in Berlin? I've never been there, though I have relatives from there . . . There are poetry vending machines here (in Portland, OR).
Kate
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