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hack.it.art
The project hack.it.art [PHOTOS] at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien is an exhibition and event about technological, artistic and political activism in Italy. It sheds light onto a large complex of activities that, throughout the 80ies, have set up and grown alternative networks to the traditional art system. While these activities may not always be identified as "art", they could more easily be called "practices" or "activism". In Italy, technological, artistic and political activism is closely interconnected, in a common network spread over the whole country, and consisting of collectives, activists and artists alike. Their common denominator is to give life to an alternative and independent way of producing information, cultural consciousness and communication. In a specific way, the correct meaning for this network of practices is the word "hacktivism". Hacktivism is the fusion of hacking and activism, technology and political action. Hacktivism is a rhizomatic, open source phenomenon. According to this point of view, hackers are not just those who destructively intrude into computer systems (and who should be more correctly called "crackers"), but those who share the good of knowledge, who fight for free communication and access for all, aiming to create and spread knowledge for the public domain. A practical example of this is the hacker ethic which could be called an attitude of gaining knowledge through technology and sharing the results, using both technology and knowledge in a genuinely free way which overcomes traditional copyright economy. The exhibition shows this widespread phenomenon and presents to the German public the multitude of Italian media and net activism. The aim is to give an inside view into this very heterogeneous and in Germany so far rarely recognized Italian scene, to provide links to the field of art as well as politics. Furthermore it attempts to connect and interlink Italian and German projects and activists. hack.it.art is focused on Italy as a country, in which, due to its political and social situation, alternative media networks offer the only means to make voices heard in opposition to the dominant media monopoly of Berlusconi. This net of counter information is signified by its potential to mobilize (through mailing lists, forums etc.). This offers the possibility and ability of spontaneous intervention in cooperation with other social movements. In a longer perspective this seems to imply a great potential of political participation. The exhibition presents artistic positions which apply themselves to social questions and pose a critical point of view towards a traditional media landscape and art scene. The exhibition explores answers to the question: How can there be independent media production in self-maintained network while there is autocratic media and a monopoly of communication by the state? The political aim of hack.it.art refers to an acknowledgement of the net as a political space, with the possibility of decentralized, autonomous and grassroots democratic participation. Access for everybody, information as a free good and the conscious, non-commercial use of hardware and technology, the basic concepts of hacker ethics, are referred to in this project as political objectives. For six weeks, from the 14th of January till the 27th of February, the exhibition will take place at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien. There will be workshops and events on various aspects of Hacktivism. Some of the exhibition space will become a temporary media lab for workshops to take place. With: Betty/Sexyshock, Agnese Trocchi/Candida TV, Asbesto/Freaknet Medialab, Fabrizio Manizza/Disco Volante TV from Telestreet network, Alessandro Ludovico/Neural, Pi-radio e Displaced Dilemma/SuperfactoryTM, Cornelia Sollfrank/Old Boys Network, Diana McCarty/Bootlab, Susanne Schmidt/Informationsfreiheiten.de, Sebastian Lütgert/Textz.com, Nikky and Francesco "Warbear" Macarone Palmieri/PHAG OFF, Federico Bucalossi/Not Human, Giacomo Verde/Eutopie, Tommaso Tozzi/Hacker Art, Dahlia Schweitzer/ThisisDahlia, Franca Formenti/Bio Dolls, Nomad & Miss Riel/Gata, Tatiana Bazzichelli/AHA, Alexandra Weltz and others. >>If you want to know more, check the Italian Hacktivism Map: %20Italian_Hacktivism_and_Art [21.08.2004 15:35:24] hack.it.art is presented by AHA: Activism-Hacking-Artivism Curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli and Alexandra Weltz. Organized by: Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute of Berlin and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. In partnership with the "U-Spot" Art Magazine, the "Zitty" CityMagazine, the "Taz" Newspaper, the "Jungle World" Weekly Magazine, Data-Recovery and the media art festival "transmediale.05". With the support of the Cultural Anthropology Department, Faculty of Sciences of Communication, University "La Sapienza" of Rome and the "Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa" (Venice). Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien | Mariannenplatz 2, 1o997 Berlin | Tel.: (o3o) 9o298-14 55 | Fax: -14 53 | bethanien@kunstraumkreuzberg.de | www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de | Director: Stéphane Bauer, Collaborators: Ulrike Ettinger, Katharina Ballhausen, Julia Schonlau. |
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