Jen-Hui Liao
How to Train a Man to be a Father, 2010

Instead of creating a handy object for parents-to-be, How to Train a Man to be a Father is a project that tries to stimulate the notion of care from within of the man’s consciousness by addressing the desire of relationship between two genders. Stereotypically, women always wish to tame their partners to be more reliable, and men always seek the basic desire of pleasure. The training process builds on the stereotypical image of men and the understanding and prediction from women's point of view. During her pregnancy, by applying a Pavlov's Dog training principle, the training helps her partner to create an instant response to the baby's crying in his mind. Once the baby has been born, the father will be able to react to it correctly. Methods of training: The machine is radio-linked with a baby doll and wired to a home entertainment system like a TV or PS3. When the doll simulates crying, the trainee must hold and cradle it correctly. Depending on the correctness and reaction time, he will receive levels of rewards as positive reinforcement.

Rewards:
level 3 : one pound coin.
level 2 : one can of beer.
level 1 : a voucher of great sex. If the trainee ignores the baby’s crying, the machine will shut off the power to the linked TV or PS3 as a negative reinforcement.



Drawing Table, 2009

"The human relationship with machines is one were we are locked into a spiral of ever increasing production, possibilities for future products, and new machines to produce them. We now find ourselves in a situation where nearly everything that surrounds us has been created by machines. Within this human/machine spiral, we create individual identities represented by the products of the human / machine relationship, further binding the two together. How do we recognize our place and the meaning of perpetuating the spiral? The Self-Portrait Machine is a human / machine relationship in miniature; by cooperating with the machine, a self-portrait is generated. It is self-drawn but from an external viewpoint through controlled movement and limited possibility. Our choice of how we are represented is limited to what the machine will allow, and we adapt to create our ideal outcome."