Live Well for Less

It turns out that it is possible to use the increasingly ubiquitous supermarket self-checkout machines to buy nothing. I carried out many experiments, interacting with these machines, over a two year period and collected receipts as evidence of the zero-transactions. The installation would include two short looping videos. One (entitled Exchanging) would projected or on a larger screen with sound amplified through speakers. The other (entitled How to Buy Nothing) would play on a smaller screen or monitor with headphones. Copies of two small books which compile collections of about one-hundred zero-receipts each, obtained during different periods in 2014-16, would be available for browsing (and possibly to take away or purchase for a charitable donation). An A0 sized version of one receipt would also hang on a wall (and possibly copies would be available to take away). In addition the transcript of a recording of an exchange with a member of staff (employed in the film Exchanging) and the actual audio recording can be presented within the space. All of the works are ready, and a degree of flexibility will be useful in deciding the finer points of exhibiting. The final decision about whether to include all, or some of, the elements listed above would be made depending on space available and to fit with curatorial concerns.