The Machine
Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, 2019
Residency project, publicly presented at Open Studio
During a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2019, I developed a drawing project based on an Arduino-controlled plotting machine. The machine produces drawings using an ordinary pen on standard paper, translating a vector-based digital file into a physical trace.
The vector format allows the drawing to be scaled up or down without loss of resolution, shifting the work fluidly between digital precision and manual presence. When arriving in Paris, the machine existed only as separate components. Through ongoing dialogue with its developer—a young entrepreneur based in the UK—I assembled the system and began to explore its possibilities through iterative testing and adjustment.
The project investigates authorship, translation, and the relationship between code, gesture, and material outcome. Rather than replacing the hand, the machine extends it, producing drawings that hover between mechanical execution and expressive variation.
I present this work as a reference to a transferable method—one that can be applied across different materials, scales, and techniques. The same principle can be adapted to processes such as digital printing, architectural applications, or large-scale spatial works, where precision and material presence coexist.