You might not be able to make someone love you, but you can design an elaborate contraption to provide physical affection.
Designer Petri Eskelinen has created a wood and metal sculpture called ‘Mechanics of Hugging’. A participant can walk up to the contraption, step on a platform, and grab a handle on either side to initiate a hug-like response in return. Wooden arms rotate and embrace the user, just like a human-to-human reciprocal interaction. (Yep, it’s just like that.)
In the description, Eskelinen writes that the viewer, “Must trust the construction and lean on it, then he/she is able to reach the handles. The viewer can turn these handles as if he/she would be hugging someone.” There you go. Reach out and trust someone (or something), and you might just get some tenderness in return.
