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Hackers: The Art of Abstraction

Posted by Hemos on from the slackers-the-heart-of-distraction dept.

scubacuda writes "Wired: Inspired by McKenzie Wark's The Hacker Manifesto , Madrid's MNCARS's exhibit, Hackers: The Art of Abstraction , explores the connections between hackers, artists and anyone engaged in any kind of creative work. The centerpiece of the exhibition are documentary films and videos made by independent filmmakers and hackers from all over the world, including Freedom Downtime by Emmanuel Goldstein, Free Radio by Kevin Kayser, The Hacktivist by Ian Walker, Unauthorized Access by Annaliza Savage, New York City Hackers by Stig-Lennart Serensen and Hippies From Hell by Inne Pope."

3 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Hacking is not an art... by Da+Fokka · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, maybe for the few true geniuses out there. But for most hackers it's merely a skill, maybe a craft at most.

    1. Re:Hacking is not an art... by Zakabog · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except in writing poetry, if you throw out every rule in the book, you can create some masterpieces. Nothing has to fit any kind of mold saying "This works and this doesn't."

      When you decide, hey I don't like using loops, lets write 10,000 if statements, you aren't creating art, you're creating a bad program and ugly code. You don't have much freedom in code, I guess you could say efficient code with as few lines as possible is art, but not the same way poetry is an art.

    2. Re:Hacking is not an art... by TwistedGreen · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Untrue. You still need to follow some rules, otherwise it'd be complete gibberish. Even if you look at the famous Jabberwocky, rules are followed. The words themselves may be nonsense, but:
      1. They still conform to proper phonemic structure of English;
      2. English grammar is upheld;
      3. The English phonology and alphabet are used;
      4. Rules of poetic structure are upheld (eg. rhyme, meter, etc.).
      Poetry, or indeed any artistic expression, is all about intelligently manipulating a structured system in some creative way. Language is a supreme example of this, and programming can be as well. You cannot throw out every rule, as there would then be no context for understanding the art. Coding is more restrictive than spoken language, but that makes the art of coding all the more esoteric and challenging.

      Ever read The Story of Mel?