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ATM at Art Basel Miami Beach displays attendees' bank balances
Credit: Joel Franco via Storyful
Would you do it — display your photo alongside your bank account balance for anyone and everyone to see?
That’s the concept behind an art installation that debuted at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, an annual prestigious December art fair that draws collectors, socialites and celebrities from around the world.
The project is from the Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF. They call it the ATM Leaderboard.
As of Dec. 2, the "highest-scoring" participant was Diplo, a well-known DJ and music producer.
He posted video of the exchange on Twitter. After finishing the transaction, the machine announced, "High score" with the sound of celebratory bells. A "#1" appears on the screen — alongside Diplo’s bank information: just over $3 million.
"I just won Art Basel," Diplo tweeted cheekily.
"Even if you’re not doing it, there’s a lot of tension in the air," Gabriel Whaley, one of MSCHF’s founding members, told Artnet News at the fair’s VIP preview. "Just being near it feels invasive, and it’s kind of goading you from afar."
Many on social media didn’t seem too keen to try the ATM themselves and commented as such:
"Looks like a "who to rob" directory…."
"The who to follow home atm"
"(I don’t know) about that. Interesting concept but also somewhat dehumanizing in a way"
The ATM reportedly sold for $75,000 to a local collector who plans to make it available to the public.
"It’s kind of funny," Gabe Whaley, a member of MSCHF, told Forbes. "There’s a meta-irony that someone bought the thing that’s making fun of people who buy things."
Whaley told Forbes the ATM helps people "cut to the chase" — because, "We’re all here to flex."
This story was reported from Detroit.