In the performance of “John Henry Von Neumann,” Chandler B. McWilliams will compete against a computer to complete a drawing in an eight-hour workday.
The drawings are algorithmic, such that each line can be calculated from the previous lines. Random numbers will be used to generate the same seed line for McWilliams and the computer to execute the algorithm. He will use pen and paper while the computer uses a plotter. The result will be two drawings, one from the human hand, and one from the hand of the machine.