Category Archives: Hacktivism

Edge of Art – Chapter 1 – Code as Muse

When you hear the word art, what do you ponder about? Perhaps an original Da Vinci hanging on the wall or the project you were forced to create last semester. The technological age is here, and it is coming fast, ready or not. Computerized art has made a bit hit in the last couple of decades, whether it was intended to be art or not. Every pixel counts, every color counts, every line of code you type is a work of art. Generating something unbelievable to the normal eye with just a few clicks is beyond my comprehension.  The new age art has many new advances compared to the basic for of art where you are restricted to your canvas. On a computer you can use the program Paint, Photoshop, use binary code, generate art, you can use code to make art, and the list goes on. There are no boundaries. There are no rules. You can create your own medium even and still have it be considered art.


Edge of Art, Chapter 4

1. Describe the difference between Political Design and Hacktivist Art. Use an example of each and describe how that work fits the category of design or art.

– Political Design and Hacktivist Art go hand in hand with one another, usually trying to get the same message across. However, they differ from one another. Political Design attempts to change the world directly with force while Hacktivist Art tries to question it with humor. Hacktivist artists sometimes emulate the high aspirations and the solid programming skills of a particular species of activist that might be called a political designer. DeCSS is an example of Political Design because it challenges what is legal and shows what hacktivists are really capable. Whereas Reamweaver demonstrates Hacktivist Art, revealing what is not meant to seen in a humorous manner.

 

2. What does execution mean? How does it relate to computers (ie .exe files). What are some example of executatble art? How is execution different from representation? In other words how does each realte to the media paradigms of one-to-many vs many-to-many?

– Execution means to turn the potential power of instructions into the actual power of behavior. ‘To execute’
means to enact the code, turning the code into an actual act, preforming what the code is intended to do. Execution and representation are both related in getting a message across, but are completely different acts. A person can execute a project that can move people and bring up a lot of questions. Representation is just being on a side and supporting or showing what you believe.

 

3. Why do you think Hacktivist artists find themselves hacking capitalist and political structures that most other people revere? What problem or dangers do they see in these forms of power? Use sample projects to answer this question.

– What would you say is the most impossible system to hack? Maybe the government’s system? Hacktivists see this as a challenge, doing the impossible and finding out the truth. Hacktivists have more power than the government when they can tap into what is not meant to be seen by the media and revealing it to the public. The Yes Men show how you can simply change the minds of a large amount of people, even a country, by hacking into different places and telling people the truth behind an evil scam.

 

 

 


Hacktivism Find

Journal of Aesthetics and Protest: Oaxaca

http://newmediafix.net/daily/?p=1014

http://www.narconews.com/

 

Back in 2006, the situation in Oaxaca, Mexico had become extremely dangerous. The paramilitary assassinations escalated to the point that the city was being occupied by federal troops and the Mexican army who were rounding up innocent people and disappearing them. It’s urgent that the international community takes action to let the Mexican government know that their actions are not going unnoticed.

This Group gives a list of hierarchies’ mailing addresses so that you can personally send the president, governor, National Security, etc. a letter telling them that what they are doing is wrong.

 


Hacktivism Project Find

Networked Music Review Commission: “ItSpace”

By Peter Traub

http://turbulence.org/Works/itspace/

 

“ItSpace” creates a network of pages within the social networking site MySpace. Instead of people, the pages feature everyday household objects from the artist’s house. Each page has a photo of the object, a description, and most importantly, a 1-minute piece composed of samples of the object being struck, resonated, and so forth. All the pages, or objects, are ‘friends’ with each other, so that visitors who discover one object may jump to the others to see their profiles and hear their sounds. Visitors to the site are invited to create new “ItSpace” pages with pieces made from their own household objects and link those in as ‘friends’ of the original set. “ItSpace” is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for Networked_Music_Review. It was made possible with funding from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.