The installation “Satin Lover” consists of a hair dryer and PS2 controller that are hanging upside down from the ceiling on its cables. By pushing the contollers stick the fan is turned on, which sets the hair dryers in motion. The dryer starts swinging and circling over the ground and can be steered and controlled in the direction and speed like character in a video game.
The hairdryer as a classic product of the industrial production catalog, builds the main topic of the work “Satin Lover” as a design object and at the same time as a simple object of every days use. Being deprived of its actual function a typical plastic hair dryer in gun form is transformed into a game object that can be controlled ans steared around like a remote controlled vehicle. Joined with a PS2 controller this absurd gamification of the everyday object fascinates transformt to a intoxication game (Ilinx after Roger Caillois). Comparable to a driving or flight simulator, one could speak of a game of skill, which, however, lacks any competitive elements such as targets, points, or reward systems. It is therefore a very contradictory transformation of a commodity into a game, since the cited simulation game takes place in real space and is therefore not a simulation.
The hair dryer is modified with a rudder at the air outlet, which is controlled by a servo motor. The fine dosage of the fan and thus of the air flow is realized with a pulse width modulation. Since the heater spiral is deactivated, the entire installation works only on a low-voltage basis and is therefore safe to use. Special red and orange leds imitaed the glowing of the heater elements.