The Art Fridges

 The art fridges were an exhibit around Shepparton throughout the duration of the festival and they acted like a free exchange. The idea is that people are able to swap one of their own books (for example) and take another. Acting a bit like a free library. There were three fridges in total and each had a different type of entertainment.

The first fridge was full of DVD's. This fridge was positioned in a small corner of the Gloria Jean's coffee shop on Wyndham Street. I opened the fridge and was underwhelmed with the amount of DVD's in the fridge. I also noticed by looking at the sheet on the fridge, that not a single person had swapped a DVD yet. Personally I believe the location of the fridge was extremely poor. Upon entering the shop I felt obliged to buy a drink so as to not feel rude. Secondly, I did not immediately spot the fridge as it was tucked away in a corner. Finally, the fridge did not clearly have a label detailing what it was and why it was there.

The second fridge I found was in the Shepparton information centre. The fridge here was more visible than the previous but was again, not labelled well. I managed to find and old Radiohead album and deposited a bunch of old CD's from my house in exchange. This fridge was stocked completely with tons of CD's and somebody had swapped two CD's. Unfortunately this was still not very effective as a free exchange.

The third fridge was full of books, and was positioned outside Sanity in the Marketplace. This fridge was positioned more effectively than either of the other fridges but was unfortunately not labelled. A few books had been swapped here and I fully believe this is because of its open position in a busy area.

Having grown up in Shepparton, I know that there is no similar exchange type booth around, so this is a new concept for anyone who has never grown up around them. Because of this, it is very important that people understand how they work in order to be confident enough to use them. The fridges need to be clearly labelled so that people can comfortably exchange the books without feeling weird.
The fridges also need to be placed more openly so that more people may see them. The fridges only seem to be written about on the festival website, and because of this, people not interested in the arts may have not even heard about them and would never find them by chance (aside from the book fridge) as they are so discreet.
The fridges would do better in places that are busy, indoors (or undercover) but not within shops themselves. Positioning them in shops makes people feel obliged to shop there, this may be great for business, but defeats the purpose of it being a free exchange. Places like the marketplace, Safeway plaza and the mall are more ideal places so that the fridges see plenty of use.

I think the fridges are great, quirky idea. I would love to see them scattered around Shepparton permanently in the future. Unfortunately, in this situation, they were a poorly executed good idea.