Heavy Duty Love

ヘビーデューティーラブ

Heavy Duty Love

Realized as a speculative domestic device compensating for a lack of human touch in early life, Heavy Duty Love sandwiches the body between layers of soft, dampening materials normally used in contemporary camping or construction. In McRae’s envisioning, just one of many sponge-like machines created to form trust and connection by replicating the protective embrace of a parent or womb, missing by virtue of lab grown origins. The machine-wearables are mini architectures that nurture and connect the body to the device. Large furniture-like cushions made from tarpaulin, carpet underlay and industrial Velcro, surround the body’s perimeter –– lean against the machine and you’re ready to be squeezed. The machine is performed by four people; two squeezed, two operators –– all participants wear uniforms “the garments” belonging to a larger committee, intervention and institute, dedicated to investigating futurekind.

The work consists of numerous (30+) padded cushions built from furniture foam and upholstered with various materials by the artist. The materials are similar to those found in industry: heavy meshes, tarps, and welded steel rollers. The piece stands just taller than a normal human (under 2m tall) and can be accessed and used from both sides.

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In Walter Isaacson's non-fiction book Code Breaker we learn about gene editing, and the Future of the Human Race — scientific experiments point to a future in which childbirth is questioned, Lucy McRae is considering the new products we'll need in this new reproductive landscape. The experiential machine Heavy Duty Love, unveiled at the Venice Architecture Biennale, acts as a comfort blanket, evoking sensations of a supportive embrace and therefore a new type of nurture for a humans who have bypassed the womb. Raising questions about human contact and intimacy in the far future, the interest is foreseeing what products we may need in an age in which childbirth is engineered. Merging this complexity with the familiar, McRae will also bring science to the street level, extending the Heavy Duty Love project through a ready-to-wear fashion label, Future Sensitive Human — an accompanying consumer range again fabricated with mental health in mind, designed to transmit strength through sensitivity.