Petting

Can people have emotional encounters with machines? Dutch artist Kees Aafjes began work on his work »Petting« with this question. "Pet me!" - This is the request of the primeval insect made of plastic, wood and metal, which is placed on a pedestal - equipped with a computer and speakers. When touched, the skin's resistance is measured via the wire on the sculpture's surface and transmitted to the computer, whereupon a pleasurable moan sounds: "Uuuh great ... oooh more". These are sentences spoken by Aafjes in different pitches, expressing the pleasurable pleasure of the machine. If the skin contact breaks off, the insect asks for renewed tenderness.

Through the title »Petting« (sexual stimulation), Aafjes' interactive artwork not only questions the machine status for humans, but also provokes an inhibition at the same time: Since the viewers submit to the insect's request and enter into an intimate relationship with it, they are - against possible embarrassment or disgust - fitted into the mechanical process and thus become part of the work themselves.