Yesterday I saw a couple of posts about NuPenny, along with the fact it’s in Wichita, Kansas – wow, art news from Wichita that actually made it national! 🙂
If you haven’t seen it – it’s a toy “store” near the Donut Whole on Douglas.  I say “store” because it’s really an art installation that uses an empty storefront as it’s medium.  I had to go check this one out, and get a few pictures!
One of the things that made it extra cool – about three doors down from NuPenny is a locksmith that has a very old style storefront and display, adding a sort of legitimacy to the NuPenny installation.  It made NuPenny feel like it actually belonged there.
All of the toys and items in NuPenny are downright cool.  Lots of metal and glossy surfaces, and the design of the toys imply that they all do something interesting!
There’s no text on the items in the store – instead, it’s all written as a tele-type code setup.  I could identify something interesting was going on there, but I didn’t take the time to try and work it out all on my own.  I cheated and Googled to see if the code already existed.  And it does – I’m not going to post translations on here (that takes all the fun out of it for everyone else ;-), but here’s a link if you want to check it out 🙂
If you get a chance, stop by and check it out.  I do recommend seeing it at night though – there’s something much cooler about it being one of the only storefronts lit up at night.  It looks inviting, but the door remains locked, so you get the whole “kid pressing his nose against the toy store window” experience out of it!
