The Cloud Factory - Portable Dispensing Unit
Jenny Dowd
The Cloud Factory is back! It’s been a few years, but in that time I’ve been scheming and dreaming about how to put clouds in the hands of the people in NW Arkansas.
Are you totally confused? The short version of the story is… in 2019, during a Moon Shot event hosted by Jackson Hole Public Art, I presented a wacky idea of a vending machine that would dispense clouds. The idea was so well received that a giant community version of The Cloud Factory came to life in March of 2020 on the grounds of the Center for the Arts in Jackson. Later in the summer of 2021 the vending machine (Portable Dispensing Unit) version popped up on the boardwalk in Jackson and dispensed a few hundred clouds to confused and delighted patrons. Check out the website for photos, videos, and more descriptions: cloudfactoryclouds.com
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to build a new Portable Dispensing Unit to be part of an exhibition in Springdale, AR. The exhibition, Valued, is on display for the month of June at the Perrodin Supply Company, as part of Interform’s Art and Fashion Biennale, Assembly.
This time, the unit needed to be designed for gallery visitors to run the dispensing unit. I didn’t have enough time to find a refrigerator box, but I found that that hiccup resulted in a better idea…
After clearing out some space in my pottery studio, and finding some giant sheets of cardboard that had been squirreled away in the attic, I set about making a vending machine that could collapse and easily be assembled. A lot of glue was used, and when I needed weights I found that there are plenty of heavy things hanging around in the pottery studio.
The walls velcro together and the boxes that catch coins as well as the black fabric that cover the windows also velcro into place. It was an interesting problem to think about how the dispensing unit would function, and how to invite and direct people to use the machine.
The machine dispenses 2 types of cloud, cloud on a string and cloud on a stick. I wrote dispensing instructions on the inside as well as ideas for sounds that a cloud factory makes… because sound effects make things more real. The clouds are all made from recycled materials, more on that in a future post.
The final Portable Dispensing Unit also has instructions on the outside, so people know that they are invited to be Cloud Factory staff and enter through the back curtain to make the machine work.
And most importantly, the Cloud Factory only accepts Cloud Factory coins. They are free and are found in a box on the side of the machine.
The Portable Dispensing Unit made it’s debut during a gallery crawl on Friday June 2nd, over 350 people walked from gallery to gallery in Springdale during the opening of Assembly. I missed most of the action at The Cloud Factory as I walked to the other galleries, but the machine worked and many many people went home with clouds.
The exhibition is on display until June 30th and the gallery hours are:
Perrodin Supply Co. | 126 N Shiloh St | Springdale, AR
Wednesday & Thursday 4-8pm | Friday & Saturday 12-8pm | Sunday 2-6pm
If you visit The Cloud Factory, be sure to tag us on Instagram @cloudfactoryclouds