Love Machine

Love is examined here as a physical sequence: anticipation, fullness, and a sudden inward collapse. Through a mechanical apparatus, the project replicates this sequence without recourse to biography or motivation. The goal is physical reproduction, not symbolic representation. The device accepts destruction as part of its function, and the user learns that each iteration diminishes the effect.

Method

This artwork employs the gestalt of scientific experimentation as its medium. The work consist of the plan for a machine, and a paper written in the form of a scientific paper. The paper can be downloaded here.

The machine has an orb that simulates the inside of a person's stomach, where I have found the feeling of love to occur. A vacuum is created inside the orb, which simulates the actual physical aspect of love. The butterflies serve as a visual metaphor. This sight clue will help the user identify with the process and internalize the feeling of love and its jittery nature. The destruction arm reproduces the power of love, as a warning that it will inevitably be destroyed. When the user decides to be loved, they are given a choice via an “Are You Sure?” button. They will be inclined to push it, and thus, once love is accepted, it will soon be over, as the device implodes. There are, of course, replacement orbs for when the user decides to try it again.

Concept

I have been researching the matter of love for the whole of my life. My research has consisted of several studiesL Natalie, my high school sweetheart, lasted two years; Kimberly, my first love in college, another two; Elena, my first wife, spanned seven years; Arin, my second wife, ended after two years; And my latest failed experiment, Zhuyu, whom I first discovered in 2015 but has recently become geographically undesirable.

My findings show that love is a feeling that happens in your stomach, but it sometimes feels like it occurs near your heart. The physical feeling is a sort of jittery uneasiness and a feeling of that space near your heart getting filled. It is only after love begins to take effect that a person realizes that this space was empty in the first place. When the relationship of a love interest is terminated, however, a painful feeling of the love getting sucked inside of itself occurs, much like a black hole in the pit of one's stomach. For some reason, we are often compelled to search out that feeling again, in spite of the painful consequences.

My research does not deal with motivations for love, however, but merely the feeling of love itself. And to this end, I have tried to reproduce this feeling in a controlled environment in hopes that someday its habits will be able to be studied.

There already exists a wide array of love making devices on the market today that simulate the physical act of making love, but so far none have been able to actually reproduce the feeling of love. Artificial intelligence can, to some extent, represent that feeling digitally through language and pattern recognition. It cannot, however, produce the physical sensation. This was an attempt through artificial means to create love.