Using the window glass of RLWindow as a canvas, the McCoys have constructed a custom-built vertical plotter machine which they will use to produce multi-layered acrylic paintings visible from the High Line. The McCoys activate the machine each Saturday in September, publicly experimenting with the technology by feeding it a combination of algorithmic and visual data. Between each session, the ephemeral paintings will remain on view in RLWindow as successive layers are created. Applying signal processing algorithms and computer vision to data from cameras and sensors, the artists craft self-generating code to drive this custom plotter. Programming the machine as such, the duo cede artistic control. They describe the final images as “hands-free, eyes-free” pictures. For Fabricator, the McCoys task their custom plotter with generating images that respond to the built and natural environments of the High Line. Composed of algorithmic patterns, the final paintings feature plants growing on the High Line and geometries of neighboring buildings. The McCoys frequently explore natural motifs in their work, referencing the many natural analogs of software engineering techniques, i.e., tree data structures and code branching.

The McCoys conceive of Fabricator as a “sculptural gesture”: a live performance exposing how technology often operates by mimicking nature’s abilities of self-generation and growth. “More and more of the organic world finds its twin in the world of digital machines,” the artists explain. “The complexity of organic processes appears to be adequately described by a profusion of data and algorithms. Growth, thought, and life are fully simulated.”

Having never used this particular plotter, the McCoys will be experiencing its outputs for the first time, along with viewers on the High Line. By testing how a vertical plotter interacts with their generative algorithm, the artists continue the legacy of early, experimental artists working with plotters and algorithmic art (i.e., Harold Cohen, Charles Csuri, and Vera Molnár). From their early experiments with database aesthetics and algorithmic cinema to their pioneering work with NFTs, the McCoys have been crucial in the development of digital art.