Artwork Re-Sells Itself Weekly On eBay 372
Lanxon writes "How much would you pay for a piece of artwork that you could only own for a week? A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter, 2009, is a black acrylic box that places itself for sale on eBay every seven days thanks to an embedded Internet connection, which, according to the artist's conditions of sale, must be live at all times. Disconnections are only allowed during transport, says the creator, Caleb Larsen. Larsen tells Wired UK: 'Inside the black box is a micro controller and an Ethernet adapter that contacts a script running on [a] server [every] 10 minutes. The server script checks to see if the box currently has an active auction, and if it doesn't, it creates a new auction for the work.'" Another condition of sale is that the artist gets 15% each time the piece is sold. Maybe the First Sale Doctrine works differently in the UK.
Re:so... (Score:2, Funny)
to buy it and throw it in a river to put an end to this stupidity
Re:Bragging rights.... (Score:5, Funny)
The purchaser also gains the right to claim the title of "The worlds most obvious sucker".... ...but only for one week.
Re:Sounds like a pyramid scheme (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Erm....15 % each time its sold? (Score:3, Funny)
I'm sure the new auction starting price is the current "value" of the art piece. So it will never sell for less than it has before, it just won't sell. So it can get stuck at one museum forever, but it won't actually be sold for less than before.
I'm sure a portion of the 15% paid is used by the artist to defray the eBay auction fees.
Ooookay... (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, whatever you say, Agent Smith.
Re:I'm an idiot (Score:3, Funny)
If your idea of "fun" is spending thousands of dollars on a useless box and hoping that you'll make your money back in a few weeks ... E-MAIL ME!!! I've got old shoe-boxes that are begging for a loving home.
Re:Sounds like a pyramid scheme (Score:5, Funny)