If you think of a visionary, you need to know Lucy McRae. She describes herself as an artist, an interpreter of signals, which she turns into speculations raising the question of how can the art universe be part of this fast-changing world? Her work comes from making, it’s intuitive, in her own words.
This hug project is pre-pandemic.
She has created the Compression Carpet, a device that offers a sandwich-embracing hug to a person craving intimacy. It’s not that the machine should replace hugs but she imagines a future where technology starts to have an impact on people’s mental wellbeing. In 2019 she wondered whether mechanical touch, rather than physical contact will become a solution; and it’s interesting to observe that one year later we are giving us virtual hugs instead.
Would a machine that hugs you be a solution or critique on where we are at?
