Switches designed to gross you out

This recent installation by German artist Katrin Baumgarten’s consists…

…of 14 switches transformed in a disgusting way. Every time a switch is pressed, a virtual light-bulb on a screen is lighted up as a feedback for the test-person….I want to show that people are indeed both repelled and fascinated by the disgusting transformation of the switches.

Among other delights, there’s a switch that retreats into its enclosure when your finger approaches, a switch that extrudes a stream of snotty goo when pressed (and retracts it when released), and (my personal favorite) a hairy switch with a pilomotor reflex that makes the hairs stand up when you try to touch it. Squick! [via Hack a Day]