Introduction

“It was not reason but a man-made instrument, the telescope, which actually changed the physical world view; it was not contemplation, observation, and speculation which led to the new knowledge, but the active stepping in of homo faber, of making and fabricating.”
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (1958, p.274)

When people hear about hacking and hackers, their view might well be formed by negative publicity in the press. Hackers are those nasty people that break into computer systems to steal valuable information, like for instance credit card details or your identity. The online “New Hacker’s Dictionary” by Eric S. Raymond (Raymond, 1996) calls this type of person not a hacker but a cracker. Hacking in its original meaning refers to the practice of creating furniture with an axe and since the nineteen fifties also to the practice of exploring the details of programmable systems to stretch their capabilities.[1] Universal Turing machines, machines that can function as any other machine, enabled this type of stretching activity due to their programmability. Mark Hinge in “Hacking: Art or Science” puts this in a more popular definition: “Making a system, program or piece of hardware do something that it was not designed to do.” (Hinge 2005)

By its explorative results oriented nature, hacking uses methods and tactics that can either be very precise and methodical, or brutal and relentless, unprofessional even. It is a working process that Thomas Düllo (2005, p.29) in “Cultural Hacking” typifies as “serious play” and “playful seriousness” at the same time that Steven Levy (1984, p.23) in his famed book “Hackers” calls “wild pleasure.” The playfulness at the same time works as a real motor of innovation, Claus Pias (2001) in “Der Hacker” writes: “...the act of playing with technology explores its limitations and boundaries, that simultaneously will disappear and reappear again elsewhere.” [2] What Pias means is that the stretching activity brings down existing boundaries and by doing so imposes new ones, moving exploration and innovation forwards.

Traditionally hackers hack computer systems, which are universal machines in the Turing definition and therefore by recoding are able to become any other system. The same machine can become a radically different machine that in some cases can be the exact opposite of its original purpose. Because of this alienation of original purpose, “Zweckentfremdung” in German as Düllo calls it, hackers have grown to become sensitive to ambiguous and contradictory notions [3] embedded in systems and this has become part of their explorative tactics. Exploration is not just a way to get to know a system, but also to consciously introduce disorientations to direct the system in new directions.

Thomas Düllo argues this element of “Zweckentfremdung” or alienation of original purpose has parallels in the détournement tactic of the 1950s artist group the Situationist International, where on purpose the meaning of artworks or images is twist or bended to (radically) change its meaning. Society and culture are systems that can be hacked or decoded, encoded and recoded to change their directions and meanings, cultural hacking as Düllo designates this activity. Naturally hacking gained a political dimension that has found its own proponent by name of Richard Stallman and the Hacker Ethic.

The Hacking Method

Hacking as an activity combines different elements, it is an explorative practice that attempts to find out about how systems work (on any level) in order to change it. It does this by using any method that produces results, whether these are systematic methods or playful probes to just see what happens. Düllo: “Hacking produces experimental research methods for a precise and calculated intervention in the system, also when from point of the system these seem irregular or unprofessional. In reality such an intervention is more likely artistic. That is to say the hacker merges the (analytic-systematic) practice of the engineer and scientist with the (creative-playful) practice of the artist.” (Düllo and Liebl 2005, p.29) [2]

Many contemporary (media) artworks merge engineering, science and art. It is a type of practice draws elements from these three disciplines without being seated firmly within any of these particular disciplines because it often negates the well established principles and methods of these disciplines.

Stephen Wilson in “Information Arts” argues for an overlap of the disciplines of art, science and technology as an intersection. (Wilson 2002) It can also be argued a space in between these disciplines exist because methods and outcomes are too irregular and unprofessional to be viewed as part of these disciplines. Perhaps a nitpicking argument, but it underlines the discipline agnostic nature of this type of practice, where “hacking” is clearly situated within. It not just provides a clear context for the research / work, but also provides methods and strategies for further exploration.

The basic premise of hacking as a method is a loose way of shaping something to one’s liking. This can involve relentless hammering or precisely placed blows to put something into shape. Hacking is characterized by exploiting the unknown consequences of probing a system, the results can be surprising and when done consciously provide "wild pleasure".

footnotes

[1] At MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the term ‘hacker’ was also used as slang for a person that dug deep into the innards of the first digital computer systems at their facility.
[2] Translated from German.
[3] Much like artists.