ing. Hardware hacking is also related to craftivism and shopdropping as remixed
commodities and codes are reinserted into their native systems, using the existing
channels and expectations to challenge the system’s primal right of interpretation.
To position hacktivism within a political framework we will then explore how it
can be related to a recent rereading of the class struggle described by Marx, but
from the perspective of hacking.
When we finally apply hacktivism to fashion our first meeting will be through the
practice of deconstruction within fashion, which has affected fashion expressions
widely over the last decades. This type of recycling has some similarities with hack-
ing, but is also very different in its relation to the users and how the material or
“code” is used. The chapter then ends with a discussion concerning a project of
open sources fashion, Giana González’ Hacking-Couture, to then explore my own
cookbook processes, the ReForm projects and the Abstract Accessories.
hacking
Since the 1960s, hacking is a term usually connected to the world of computers. It
has often a connotation of an ingenious geek, breaking into forbidden networks,
bypassing security systems, stealing passwords and hijacking phones to call for free.
In popular media they collaborate with like-minded in their hidden sects to break
into banks or steal classified government information. In computer jargon there is
a crucial difference between the curious hacker and his vicious counterpart - the