We’ve found this interesting piece while looking through Blake Fall-Conroy’s online portfolio. This young sculptor intent on making social and political statements with his artwork has been working on a new project called the Minimum-Wage Machine. Essentially the machine is a large container of pennies equipped with a turn-lever that makes you work for …. yes you guessed it.. minimum wage. The concept is simple, the machine releases one penny every 5.04 seconds the lever is being cranked for $7.15/hr (New York State’s current minimum wage). If the participant stops turning the lever, the machine stops releasing money.
Thought provoking indeed. We appreciate the philosophical parallels between this design and real life. After all, regardless of the speed and effort being put into the cranking of the lever, your minimum wage is set in stone, until the mastermind behind the mechanism changes the rules of the game…
Great metaphorical concept.
Visit BlakeFallConroy.com to find out more about the artist.
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