Public Art Dialogue, Vol.

2, Issue 1, March 2012, 79–93

SLOW CYBORG
Jim Jeffers

DECODING SLOW CYBORG

Slow Cyborg is an interactive art project in dialogue

with technology, specifically, the now ubiquitous
camera-equipped smartphone. Outfitted with these
devices we are all “cyborgs,” simply defined as a
being with both biological and artificial parts, implying
devices such as smartphones have become “a part
of us.” The intention is to slow down the user of these
devices by layering the technology and asking for a
response. Slow Cyborg asks us to think about how
we might find contemplation in the encode, poems
and pictures in the process of living as de facto
cyborgs. Slow Cyborg wants to live with you.

Slow Cyborg uses QR codes (Quick Response codes) to give creation instructions
to participants. Participants are encouraged to use smartphone QR code readers to
decode the instructions, create visual or textual artifacts, and upload their
responses to SlowCyborg.com (http://slowcyborg.com). These codes can also be
decoded by photographing them, downloading to a computer and using this
address http://zxing.org/w/decode.jspx or another QR code decoder site.
The following form of Slow Cyborg published here is 13 QR code instructions with
13 completed responses by Jim Jeffers, providing a starting point for others to
participate and contribute to the project.

The goal of Slow Cyborg is positive and beneficent.

Public Art Dialogue

ISSN 2150-2552 print/ISSN 2150-2560 online q 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21502552.2012.662773
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
80

Instruction:
01-
Dear Scott,

How are doing? Made a Saison from cultured yeast and was
thinking about your quest for cider—I’m about to step up to an
all-grain brewing setup. Jean has started making bread, and the
other day I made a pumpkin pie starting with a sugar pumpkin, whole
wheat pastry flour, eggs, milk, spices, butter, salt and maple syrup;
we’re not ready for the cabin in the woods yet but closer by the day.
Give my love to Ellen and Ben.

Love,
Jim

81
82
Black Beans
Brown Rice
Cheese

Guacamole:
Avocado
Tomato
Cilantro
Jalapeño
Garlic
Lime
Salt

83
84
 We walked up a main street in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, mildly buzzed from lunch at
the brewery. We looked in shops filled with old
stuff, prints, magazines, glassware, and life
long friends with a black lab. I noticed a rocket
ship tattoo on the arm of a tall thin blond lady with a little girl while
we waited for tea; they were speaking German. The little girl was
timidly practicing her English interspersed with verbal floods of
German; so much so, her mother playfully covered her mouth
only to get literally licked, followed with a giggle. I remarked that
they were speaking German, and the woman nodded, so I asked
where she was from. They were there from Berlin, Prenzlauer
Berg. After a few moments of talk about Berlin, I wished them a
very good journey, saying, “sehr gute Reise.” at which they
laughed and said, “Auf Wiedersehen.”

85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Jim Jeffers is an intermedia artist working with computer mediation, web art, performance,
photography and video in conjunction with conventional media. He is currently working at the nexus of
fantasy and biography (Fantabiography), fabricating artifacts of a personal popular culture. Jeffers
likes superheroes, airplanes, Volkswagens, Legos, rabbits and television. He exhibits and performs
his work in the United States and internationally. His most recent solo exhibition, Jim Jeffers’ Fortress
of Multitude: project 52 for 2010—and other Fantabiographies was shown at MEME Gallery in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2011. His website Fantabiography.com has been online since the
early days of the twenty-first century. Jim is currently an Assistant Professor of Art & Design teaching
Senior Studio and heading the Web Art & Design area at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Jim
resides mostly in Lowell, Massachusetts, with his beautiful wife Jean and their rabbit Logan. He is a
founding member of Printer on Prescott Arts Research Collaborative & Artist Studios in the historic
center of downtown Lowell where he works.

All works by Jim Jeffers, 2011, ElPezCore International, www.Fantabiography.com,

SlowCyborg.com

93
Copyright of Public Art Dialogue is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or
emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission.
However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.