Cybroc

Catalogue

Life resists death. Silicon Valley has transformed longevity activism into a movement. Their "Don't die" slogan becomes protocols: broccoli, pills, and routines promise immortality by spreadsheet. Cybroc answers with a row of broccoli "cyborgs" that train harder than any billionaire body—running tiny treadmills, plunging in ice baths, brachiating on servo arms, sled-pushing on timing belts. They perform the rituals of longevity with machine devotion. And then, over days of exhibition, of course, they rot, inevitably. The green floret becomes brown, while the motors keep counting reps. Cybroc is an embodied argument: when we arrogantly attempt to engineer vitality, are we truly extending natural life—or merely mechanizing its inevitable decay?

Artwork Description

Rallying around the slogan “Don’t die,” longevity activism has proliferated into a techno‑cultural movement led by Silicon Valley’s ultra‑wealthy. It advances research, markets, policies, and practices aimed at extending human lifespan. At its forefront is billionaire Bryan Johnson, who spends millions annually in an attempt to reverse his own aging. He promotes a “Blueprint” protocol that turns body‑hacking into a regimented routine: vegetables (notably broccoli), numerous supplements, and a precisely choreographed daily exercise program intended to “reverse” aging.

In response, “Cybroc” stages a series of kinetic broccoli “cyborgs” that follow this Blueprint. Each piece augments a fresh broccoli “body” with prosthetic limbs—low‑tech motors, gears, and belts—that perform repetitive “longevity exercises”: cold plunges, treadmill runs, brachiation (arm‑swinging), sled pushes—rituals lifted directly from the protocol. Each unit mechanically repeats these movements with obsessed devotion to longevity. Throughout the exhibition, we livestream their regimen, as Johnson does with his own. The twist is temporal: despite—and perhaps because of—the training, each Cybroc inevitably decays. Over hours to days, cellulose softens, moisture seeps, stalks bloat, and florets brown; the organic substrate whispers entropy. This deterioration becomes a metaphor for the limits of biological systems.

Would you choose 80 years of natural life or maybe 100+ years of an artificialized life mechanized by protocols?

“Cybroc” animates lifelike behaviors—striving to extend life while succumbing to decay—asking whether technological interventions truly prolong life or merely choreograph its inevitable end in mechanical form. Blending humor, critique, and philosophical inquiry, the work challenges viewers to consider the boundaries between artificial and natural life, our pursuit of immortality, and the costs of pushing biological systems beyond their limits. Its hardware simplicity contrasts with the cultural complexity it critiques, foregrounding inefficiency and impermanence over seamless automation. Acknowledging that “life inherently resists death,” the piece comments on society’s transhumanist ambitions while exploring the entangled terrain of nature, technology, life, and human aspiration.