hacktivism
Along the line of this chapter we will follow parts of the history of what I call hack-
tivism and we will also see it applied in a variety of ways to enrich our perspective
on fashion. We will start by following a line of hacking and then to come to see
more detailed examples of how the abstract machine of hacktivims operates. I
mean these examples offer a furthering of the hacking approach that can give new
light on the designer role. As we will come to see, the practices of hacktivism run
through many fields and practices and we can from this perspective approach fash-
ion in new ways.
Hacking is a DIY practice of direct intervention, and its application is twofold.
Firstly, it is about the skill to open a system, access it and learn to master defences
and structure. Secondly, hacking is a specific tactic of changing a system by plug-
ging into it and redirecting its flows into a more desirable goal, usually by actively
building on it. The hacking line of practice plays with technology through these
two approaches, to make it do new things by explicitly using the existing forces and
infrastructure within the system for changing it.
Another central point of hacking is the hacker community’s argument that “infor-
mation wants to be free”, that sharing systems and creating open source codes flat-
tens the diagram of control within the community and vitalizes the scene. It is
through actions like this I mean hacking starts to turn into hacktivist engagement.
However, as the hacking ethic is also meritocratic and sometimes even elitist it
emphasises the individual skills of the hacker and can thus be quite exclusive. Nev-
ertheless, a dominant part of the community try to create a symbiotic culture,
where all small contributions can plug into each other to form larger emergent
systems, such as the Linux operating system.
Throughout this chapter we will follow some different examples of how hacking
operates. We will set out on a journey through various forms of hacking, starting
from computers. Following this we will see how the same abstract machine oper-
ates by relating practices such as lock-picking, urban exploration and circuit-bend-
• Hacktivism is the merger between political activism and hacking. It is the modification of systems, programs or devices to give more
users access to action spaces that were otherwise unavailable. These new passages and spaces are shared within the community for
others to build further on.
