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# DNA vending machine
- URL: https://www.protein.xyz/dna-vending-machine/
- Published: 2014-03-12T15:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2016-06-14T19:10:21.000Z
- Description: A biotech art installation, American artist Gabe Barcia-Colombo has made a vending machine that contains dozens of DNA samples
- Author: Maks Fus Mickiewicz
- Tags: Seeds, Art & Design, #protein, #Import 2024-06-11 13:25

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/71/fc716215-5729-441a-bd07-e2b50bc413b1/content/images/S3/protein/9909/dbb6b2c0-028f-4895-a801-37180dbf9461.jpg)

Generally speaking, vending machines dispense a somewhat predicable inventory of snacks and beverages. That was until American artist [Gabe Barcia-Colombo](http://www.gabebc.com/?ref=protein.xyz) created the world's first a [DNA dispensing vending](http://www.gabebc.com/DNA-Vending-Machine?ref=protein.xyz) machine.   
  
Designed to raise awareness of the increasing access to biotechnology, at the touch of a button the DNA vending machine dispenses real human DNA. For a reasonable cost, you are able to buy a sample of human DNA, along with a photographic portrait of the human specimen and a link to a their own unique DNA extraction video. The installation piece was the result of time spent at the New York biohacking space [Genspace](http://genspace.org/?ref=protein.xyz).  
  
The ubiquity of vending machines in urban cities makes it an interesting vessel of critical comment. Much like the [Machine to be Another](https://www.prote.in/en/feed/2014/02/the-machine-to-be-another?ref=protein.xyz), which saw art collective [Be Another Lab](http://www.themachinetobeanother.org/?ref=protein.xyz) use an Oculus Rift in an installation to offer a new perspective on the human form, DNA Vending Machine intentionally blurs the line between art and science.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fc/71/fc716215-5729-441a-bd07-e2b50bc413b1/content/images/S3/protein/9909/d722ba85-e8f2-4ea8-993d-5870ad8a986b.jpg)