Two Winnipeg artists are experimenting with a new way to make art accessible and affordable — selling it by vending machine.

Angela Forget and Suzie Smith have set up an old cigarette vending machine, called Art Hive, at the Winnipeg Folk Festival that began Thursday.

But the only thing patrons will be able to get out of the machine is a pack of possibilities.

"It's kind of like a fun experience to buy something out of the machine. It's like the lottery where you always win," Smith told CBC Television.

Smith and fellow artist Forget have been collecting small works of original art packaged in mock cigarette boxes for months.

"It will give the opportunity for a lot of artists to have a bigger exposure to a more diverse, larger audience," Smith said.

They now have samples from more than 19 emerging artists, everything from paintings, to photographs, ceramics, and sound and video compilations.

Anyone can buy it — for just $4 a pack.

"The whole idea is to get art out to the masses in an accessible, cheap sort of way," Forget said.

Wants machines across Canada

It's an idea that already seems to be working in Montreal.

Louis Rastelli, a Montreal producer of zines and chapbooks, has been selling through vending machines since January 2001 through his company Distroboto.

Since Montreal's smoking ban, Rastelli has purchased more than 100 recycled machines for a vending operation he hopes to spread across Canada.

Rastelli stocks the old cigarette machines with mini-comics, flip books and music CDs. He has sold more than 20,000 items through his art vending machines, he said.

"Distribution is always a big problem for independent artists — whether it's music, or publishing or whatever it is. So this notion of having a machine to do the selling for you is really appealing," he said.

Forget and Smith hope the Winnipeg Folk Festival will be the testing ground for Art Hive.

The four-day festival, which features acts like Bedouin Soundclash, Steve Earle and the Six String Nation Guitar, is accompanied by the Prairie Outdoor Exhibition.

"A large amount of people in a very public space with a very diverse audience  that are fairly open to the arts — it seems like a good place to start," Forget said.