Since the 1950's artists have had a particular taste for incorporating 'new' and exotic objects into their work. In the recent years I've personally encountered Playstation Vita's, aircraft doors, credit cards, pocketbikes, welding helmets, flight cases, plane tickets, iPhones, various kinds of stands and tripods, RealDolls, rock bits for well drilling, plotting machines, drawing robots, animatronic puppets and at the moment of writing anything made from carbon fibre is still considered notable as 'pushing the limits of art'.
Really any object that is intricate, technologically complex, purpose-built or even simply expensive is likely to be included in an artwork at some point by somebody.
With that in mind, I realised there are still quite a few things in the world with similar characteristics that I haven't seen yet in an artwork, so here's a short overview of some products I believe will be used inside an art context at some point in the future:
- Tilt/shock indicators for packages
- Firearm suppressors
- Diving equipment
- Compound and recurve archery equipment
- Sports equipment in general is a safe bet, particularly for individual sports
- High security locks, as well as lock-picking equipment
- Bladeless fans in general and Dyson's Airblade and Supersonic range of products in particular
- Maglite and other durable flashlights
- Any kind of MagSwitch switchable magnets
- Dentistry tools
- Medical equipment in general
- Gambling paraphernalia
- Curta calculators
- Quilting rulers
- Synthesizers and drum machines
- Tents and other outdoor/survival equipment
- Rare and/or obsolete (digital) storage formats, such as Sony's NT cassette tape
- Stage lighting equipment, especially LED video panels
- LEGO's pick-a-brick service
- Borescopes
- Eye tracking glasses
- Laser scanners for 3D imaging
- Basically any kind of new camera will get used as soon as it becomes affordable enough
