The abstract machine of hacktivims connects at the amateur and professional
levels and creates new forms of hybrids. In this chapter we well see examples of
this and how new lines are drawn between the works of serious hobbyists and the
top strata of the fashion system where the professionals reside. We will explore
how interfaces can be constructed between the contrasting positions of
professionals and amateurs.
By opening these passages between separated fields we will see other forms of co-
production arise, and where the role of the designer is to bridge this gap and ex-
periment with cooperation between these lines and levels, opening new action
spaces for the participators.
In 2007 I organized two connected transdisciplinary fashion projects, the Hackers
and Haute Couture Heretics exhibition and the VakkoVamps projects. Both aimed
at showing how fashion production can be a shared practice between hacktivists,
consumers and high fashion brands. From my point of view, these lines or levels do
not oppose each other in which one “subverts”, “appropriates”, “dominates” or
“steals” from the other. My hope was to establish a perspective that offers a shared
practice where all participants contribute to further the engagement of the fash-
ionistas and fashion “believers”.
What is emphasised here is once again the tuning of lines and the opening of new
interfaces between separated fields as a practical way of enhancing collaboration.
Yet, this is not a question so much of verbal communication but of including all
the senses, and especially of building things and forming “material publics” (Marres
2008). Once again it is a question of symbiogenesis. Here “survival of the fittest”
means that of the most symbiotic, not the most competitive. This means that it is
not the individual strength of the actor that is counted, but how it interfaces and
inter-operates with others, shares forces and rides lines. For fashion this could
mean that is not only about building a strong style or brand that stands by itself,• Pro-Ams blur the distinctions between professional and amateur within any endeavour or attainable skill that could be labelled professional.professional
amateurs
This middle position has existed for a long time in sports but now many pursue amateur activities to professional standards - and it even affects big science.