The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune
An public art storytelling encounter by Bailey Sends Word Story Studio
Studio Project:
What is it?
In the middle of everything, there's a secret for you waiting to be discovered...
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune is a public art storytelling object that creates an unexpected, mysterious encounter in the everyday world. Those who interact with the machine turn the dial to receive a tiny one-line fortune story, each an original writing by me and chosen for the recipient by the hands of fate and the whims of The Great Gumball.
Participants who want to know the gumballs’ secrets can turn the dial to receive a capsule with a numbered paper fortune inside. Will they keep the wisdom of the gumballs for themselves or will they share it with those around them and all of the venue?
The decision is theirs alone, for some secrets of the gumball are more personally reflective than others, but all are one-line stories about collective human experiences connect us more deeply to ourselves, to each other, and to the world we live in.
Public Art Grant Recipient, ArtFields 2026
Ongoing installation
An interactive storytelling encounter
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune can be installed at a variety of sites due to its small footprint and analog interaction. It may even be installed as outdoor public art under protective covering for extended periods of time.
Paper lot mini stories
These mini stories are dispensed in the format of “fortunes” - paper lots folded for secrecy and sealed in capsules in a modern-day version of paper and folded lots that have been cast to tell a person’s fortune for centuries by cultures all over the world. The recipient’s lot is selected at random for by The Great Gumball itself. Audience members activate their paper lot by turning the free spin dial on the customized gumball machine’s mechanism.
A story on a mini paper slip to take into your day
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune offers a tactile paper experience, with a story that seems personalized just for the recipient it has chosen. Participants take their paper slips with the story written on it as well as the capsules with them as a reminder of their personal good fortune.
In-world placement
The machine may be placed indoors inside a vestibule, alcove, up against a wall, or free-standing in the center of a space. It may also be placed outdoors under proper protective covering and with a chain bolting it discretely to a permanent structure or the ground. The machine was originally fabricated and designed for outdoor public art display and is made of materials that will withstand the elements under light covering. The machine does not require an attendant and can stand on its own for long periods of time.
Discovering The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune should feel a little like stumbling onto a secret in the middle of everything - cosmic, mystical, a little mysterious encounter as participants go about their day or evening.
The mystical materialized in the everyday
The customized gumball machine is approximately 3 feet in height and takes up only about two feet of horizontal space. Therefore, only audience members who are observant will recognize, as they walk down an everyday ordinary street, a mystical object beckoning them to turn a mysterious dial.
Stories for everyone
The stories found inside this mystical gumball machine are 100% free to receive, thanks to the free spin mechanism, and are written to speak to any person of any reading age. This makes the project at once a very public storytelling encounter and an incredibly personal experience at the same time - for the story any audience member receives is one of a great fortune that is already theirs.
Unique numbered stories
The machine holds roughly 400 physical story capsules at a time and is simple to refill by unlocking the top mechanism and pouring in more capsules, which are created by hand by the author and artist, Bailey Lewis. For the ArtFields installation, Bailey wrote 36 unique mini fortune stories and provided 1,000+ individual hand-filled story capsules.
The stories are numbered on their slips received by the audience 1 through 36, so that if participants would like to share their fortunes, they can compare numbers. Identifying numbers can also provide an additional layer of both personal and symbolic meaning - you may receive your lucky number, or one you’ve been seeing a lot recently, etc.
Receive your fortune from the Great Gumball
Experience The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune via videos, social posts, photos, and more
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune at the ArtFields SC Festival 2026
Listing on Bloomberg Connects Arts+Culture
ArtFields SC Festival 2026 recap reel, The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune feature
Installation site in Lake City, South Carolina