Every Bit Is a Work of Art

February 28, 2004 9:40 AM

The art of abstraction: 'the idea that anyone who creates anything is a hacker.'
posted by moonbird (6 comments total)

for sale: two words, good condition, no longer needed - "artist", "creator".
wanted: replacement for "hacker"
trades consider. interested callers only please.
posted by andrew cooke at 10:47 AM on February 28, 2004

if you want more, there is nettime. some good stuff there, but also a lot of noise.
posted by MzB at 3:39 PM on February 28, 2004

"I very much like Wark's idea that everyone who creates anything is a hacker -- programmers, artists, musicians, writers, engineers, chemists and so on are all hackers and, no matter how culturally diverse we may be, as creators we have convergent interests," said Berta Sichel, director of the department of audiovisuals at the Spanish museum.

I disagree that simply creating something makes one a hacker. I've long held that hacking is the art of making things do stuff they were never intended to do. (And perhaps, the more contrary to the original intention, the better the hack. )

People are creative all the time, so celebrating creativity per se is a non-starter. Berta Sichel is really just trying to glom some techno-geek mojo because it has some trendy panache.
posted by Ayn Marx at 5:01 PM on February 28, 2004

Using words to debate the meaning of words always strikes me as somewhat funny.
posted by spazzm at 7:30 PM on February 28, 2004

can a Republican help me out here - does this threaten the institution of hacking or the institution of creating?
posted by badstone at 10:58 AM on March 2, 2004

1) I used to be cool but aren't any longer.
2) Hackers are cool.
3) I know, I'll redefine "hacker" to include me.
4) Now I'm cool again. Yay!
posted by kindall at 11:18 AM on March 2, 2004