Hacker Redefined

My experience thus far in EMAC has altered my view of what a hacker is and isn’t. Up to this point my idea of a hacker was largely influenced by films such as “War Games”,”Hackers” and of course “Ferris Buelers Day Off”. The term has always maintained a negative connotation for me. The documentary really made me aware of the early spirit of hacking. And like DADA and Fluxus before it, This movement was largely built around the idea of changing your preconceived notion of what something is, can and should be…with a little mischief thrown in. I was also really interested to learn some of the early events that lead to the formation of Microsoft and Apple respectively. My understanding it means to be a hacker now is more or less to repurpose something from it’s original intended use. Can artists be hackers? Yes, We’ve seen many examples of this in our lifetimes haven’t we? In Brooklyn artists took turntables, a device meant to play prerecorded vinyl records and used them as instruments, Depeche Mode used the sound of trains and machinery as percussion. College Students are using old X-Boxes as servers. Hell painters have even used piss as paint. As a look back on my life I can see many things I did as a child as hacking. Children, especially boys, are born hackers. I can remember using my dog as a dish washer, a baseball card to make a “motor” on the spokes of my bike, Aluminum foil and comic strips as wrapping paper. These are all really examples of hacks. Most of those were done in fun. When I was a little older I used a hack to alter our POS system in one of the restaurants I worked in to replace our company logo with a picture of a penis on April Fools day, Needless to say the boss wasn’t to thrilled. Which brings up one critical point. As I was watching the documentary in class I was struck by some of the hackers surprise at getting in trouble for what they are doing as if the possibility never occurred to them. Yes hacking can be art, but it can also be crime. These guys like myself really thought they wouldn’t get caught. I think there is a place for hackers in the art world as well as the world at large but just like anyone else there is also the need for personal accountability.