Maybe you’ve just experienced Love Machine, or maybe you are waiting in line. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything.

I first conceived the idea of Love Machine while having a wholesome adult dinner with some friends. Somehow, the topic of fax machines came up, and I kind of became obsessed. Old communication tech that still felt magical.

I learned that the screechy sound a fax machine made when sending a document was actually the sound of a sensor reading the image on the page, kind of a binary song, playing a buzz when it came across a dark patch. I couldn’t stop thinking about a machine creating a “song” of someone’s communication, and what would the machine sing?

The idea spiralled into something completely different, as all good explorations do. But at its heart, the piece is still about human experience through a computer lens.

I’m fascinated by how humans want our technology to tell us something about ourselves, to uncover some hidden secret within, quizzes to learn what Harry Potter house we are in, AI therapy, and online Myers-Briggs tests.

Making Love Machine has been exciting and baffling. It was basically an introduction to electronics, and the whole thing was built by me (Tom) from chips ordered online, old computer parts scavenged from the side of the road, and eBay for the harder-to-find bits. I’m a Theatremaker by night and an Experience Designer (corporate) by day, so this was all new.

This piece was also an experiment in co-piloting a creative work with AI and LLMs. It’s terrifying tech, but honestly, I couldn’t have made this piece without it. I designed it, I told the LLM what I wanted to achieve, and then it wrote my code. Which sounds easy, but it has taken wayyyyyy longer than it would have if I had a programmer to work with. This tech doesn’t replace specialists, but it does mean that artists with bold, new ideas can make them a reality.

Enjoy.