modular clothing pieces, “A-POC” – A Piece Of
Cloth, a series of collections that can be built into a
variety of garments (Evans 2003: 275).
In this way hacking is made to do something new
but at the same time preserve the original parts in-
corporated in the new, by simply repurposing origi-
nal tools and modus operandi. Quite similarly, paint-
ing is learnt by copying the works of great masters
since it forces you to look closely at how painting is
made. Like writing or any traditional craft is done
too (Graham 2004). This basic form of learning is
for mastering the basic technique, but hacking is fi-
nally about colouring outside the lines and exceed-
ing the limitations of the original medium. It is in
this expansion of mindset and furthering of action
spaces we will see how hacking meets activism. By
colouring outside the lines hacking becomes more
than an exploration of a locked system, it also trig-
gers new uses and unconventional methods. It is
playfully challenging conventions, often triggered
by tricky situations, like improving eating skills with
three or more chopsticks in each hand as in a ludic
hacking example by Richard Stallman (Stallman
2002).hacking access
We have noted that the hack has a history of being a
prank, a practical joke, a re-setting of an environ-
ment or an exploration into a forbidden space, but
without harming anything or anyone involved which
is a cardinal rule in the “hacker ethic”. Already in the
prank hacks the sharing of skills was important and
questions of access were central; access to comput-
ers, which was scarce in the beginning of program-
ming, as well as to the shared computer networks.
This brought forth methods and comprehensive
manuals for analogue hacking, for example in the
form of lock-picking.
The practice of lock-picking reveals how hacking is
about curiosity, access and mastering skills to over-
come obstacles. Lock-picking by hackers is not used
for burglary but is instead an “interest in locks, not
doors”, as I was told by a lock-picker at a hacker con-
ference in Berlin. This thin line between accessibility
and trespassing is hard to define. Traditionally with-
in the hacker community the trespassing practice is
bound by a “hacker ethic”, a loose set of rules of non-
destructive free sharing.Brian Duffy and his Modified Toy Orches-
tra are engaged in circuit bending, “the creative art of
short circuiting”. Duffy rescues old electronic toys from
car boot sales and thrift stores to later convert them into
new sophisticated musical instruments. Through reverse
engineering and hands-on deconstruction new sounds are
exposed that lay hidden within every toy’s circuits, from
unused demos and beats with no possibility to reach with
keys on the outside, to pure short circuited noise. These
“liberated” sounds are bent into new forms of music by
reconnecting the circuits in new ways, first just probing the
surface of the chip with a wet finger, then soldering cables
and switches to the “hot” areas of the chip. Through
this simple method Duffy creates new instruments with
redundant technology. During reassembly new switches
and dials are added to the outside with which to control
and tweak the hidden liberated resources inside.