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Slow Chat is about using socially engaged art to examine our social behaviors that are enabled by technology. Purveyors of digital tools claim to help us be more connected, while critics say our obsession with tech is doing the opposite. To me this disagreement stems from a mismatch of how people view the authenticity of connections in digital space relative to physical space. I think that the distinction between these two spaces is growing more ambiguous as we become more entangled with technology.

Drawing on my own experiences in digital space, most notably text messaging, I have found people are really affected by the unspoken aspects of communication. What does a really long message mean? Or if someone takes a long time to reply?

The main question I am asking is what happens when users interact with a piece of technology that purposefully makes it harder to communicate? Slow Chat forces the message length and reply time to approach infinity, possibly introducing enough inconvenience for users to connect in person or stop communicating altogether.

Works best when you and another person are on Slow Chat at the same time.

Made by Beverly Chou using node.js, socket.io, and p5.js in Fall 2017.