A pink-and-fuchsia crab machine becomes art in central Milan.
An oversized crab machine becomes a participatory space: maxi products, interaction and artistic performance build an immersive, shared narrative.
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A giant crab machine in Piazzetta Brera, during Milan’s Beauty Week 2022. Diego Dalla Palma chooses 23bassi to turn the launch of two iconic mascaras — My Toy Boy and My Happy Toy — into pop art, with an installation halfway between cracking art and a pop-up store, built around the claim ‘Size matters’. The products are reproduced at macro scale inside the machine, split into red and fuchsia, while the public can vote for their favourite by dropping a foam ball into two plexiglass tanks. For four days, four artists decorate the glass walls live.
The installation. During Milan’s Beauty Week 2022, Diego Dalla Palma wanted to create an art installation, halfway between a pop-up store and a work of cracking art, that spoke about two of their flagship products, the two mascaras My Toy Boy and My Happy Toy. An installation conceived for the two mascaras — iconic products coated in a silicone sheath — could only point to a playful, ironic and pop idea.
The crab machine. The idea was to reinterpret a crab machine at macro scale. Inside it, besides two oversized reproductions of the products (whose claim is ‘size matters’), other playful elements were added, creating a true cracking-art installation, split into the two colours of the mascaras, red and fuchsia. In front of the installation, a tank divided into two zones was designed to hold foam balls. Visitors could test the product and then vote for their favourite of the two mascaras by dropping a ball into one of the two plexiglass tanks. The installation also has a base housing the battery needed to power the evening lighting.
The artistic performance. During the installation’s display, in the week of Milan’s Beauty Week, each glass wall was, for 4 days, a blank sheet available to 4 different artists who decorated the panel with drawings linked to beauty and to women, in line with the mood of the Diego Dalla Palma brand.
