Tate Modern: donating becomes fun

As seen three weeks ago in London and just found again on the internet: the donation boxes at Tate Modern. In London museums such as Tate Modern, the British Museum and National Gallery, the entrance price for the permanent collection is free. To keep it free of charge visitors are asked to deposit a small sum of money in one of the donation boxes. Usually such a donation box, as the one below, is rather boring.

The three donation boxes, designed by Ab Rogers Design, in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern are an exception. And they’re good. Why? Because they catch the eye without being disturbing. The donation boxes stand 2,7 meters tall and 1,5 meters wide and are transparent with brightly colored coin deflectors. But perhaps even more important: these aren’t the same boring donation boxes as in the British Museum. Donators are rewarded for their gift. As Ab Rogers Design describes it: “Visitors stretch to reach the highest slot they can. Their coins drop into the slot and ricochet through a series of colorful coin deflectors before falling with a clink to the bottom of the donation box.”

We can say these original donation boxes change the donation experience. The classic donation box only offers long-term incentives: the entrance price stays free. Whereas the donation boxes in Tate Modern offer short-term as well as long-term incentives: the fun of the deflecting coin + the entrance price stays free.