Hacker artist

Definition of a Hacker Artist

Hacker Artists are artists who are hackers. They also create art using technology as their artistic medium.

In the article "HACKING SEDUCTIONS AS ART" by Cornelia Sollfrank[1], another description is offered by Jenny Marketou, "hacker artists operate as culture hackers who manipulate existing techno-semiotic structures towards a different end, to get inside cultural systems on the net and make them do things they were never intended to do."

In the article, "Singing Together, Hacking Together, Plundering Together" [2] published on the-open-space.org site, the author Larry Polansky states:

"Technology and art are inextricably related. Many musicians, video artists, graphic artists, and even poets who work with technology – whether designing it or using it – consider themselves to be part of the "hacker comunity." Computer artists, like non-art hackers, often find themselves on society’s fringes, developing strange, innovative uses of existing technology. There is an empathetic relationship between those, for example, who design experimental music software and hackers who write communications freeware."

To call someone a "hacker artist" does not mean that this person breaks into other computer systems. Such folks who take advantage of other computer systems and their weaknesses are often called "crackers". Many people confuse "hackers" and "crackers" unfortunately, and this confusion has not been helped by the media.

First usage of the term Hacker Artist

The term "hacker artist" was officially introduced on December 4, 1995 on Art.Net, when hacker artists were invited to join the artist community there.

The first use of the term "hacker artist" is not actually known but is thought to have been first used by the artist Lile Elam, webmaster of Art.Net and self proclaimed "hacker artist".

Examples of Hacker Artists

There are many examples of "hacker artists" residing on Art.Net which can be found in the hacker studios section. Some hacker artists create art by writing computer code. Others actually create art by developing software and hardware. And finally, some hacker artists create art by just using pre-written software tools (such as photoshop or gimp(GNU Image Manipulation Program)).

One of the more notable software & hardware hacker artists is mkl who creates 3D light art using his Cubatron and the Big Round Cubatron. This art is considered "hacker art" for two reasons... the first is that mkl is a hacker and the second is that the art piece is made using computer technology (designing circuit boards and programming chips to manipulate the lights).

Don Hopkins is another notable software "hacker artist" and is known for his art called Cellular Automata. This art is created by running a program that generates objects which randomly bump into each other which in return creates more objects and designs. (similar to how a lava lamp works, except that the parts change color and form through interaction).

Per Hopkins, "Cellular automata are simple rules that are applied to a grid of cells, or the pixel values of an image. The same rule is applied to every cell, to determine its next state, based on the previous state of that cell and its neighboring cells.

There are many interesting cellular automata rules, and they all look very different, with amazing animated dynamic effects. "Life" is a widely known cellular automata rule, but many other lesser known rules are much more interesting! "

MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in TechSquare was once known for being the birthplace of many hacker artists' projects.

External Published Articles Referencing "Hacker Art" and "Hacker Artists"

• Ars Electronica Festival Archive "Vector in Open Space" by Gerfried Stocker 1996. (Uses the term "hacker-artist" to describe artists in article).
• ACLU in the Courts: ALA v. Pataki: Elam Declaration Describes Hacker Artists as member artists of Art.Net. March 1997.
• Switch|Journal Jun 14 1998. (Describes game writers as "hacker artists".)
• Eye Weekly "Tag -- who's it?" by Ingrid Hein, July 16, 1998. (Describes software developer as a "hacker artist".)
• The OPEN SPACE Web Magazine, Paper written for Humanities Research Institute 98 "The Tangled Web" by Larry Polansky. 1998. (Describes Hackers as Artists and Artists as Hackers.)
• Linux Today "Playing the Open Source Game" by Shawn Hargreaves, Jul 5, 1999. (Has comment by viewer who makes a call for ""hacker artists" to "consider the demoscene!". Jul 6, 1999, 07:49:27.
• HACKING SEDUCTIONS AS ARTJuly 25, 2000 (Artist Jenny Marketou of Germany describes herself as an artist hacker in this interview. Explains difference between just a computer hacker and hacker artist.)
• Canterbury Christ Church University Library Resources by Subject - Art & Design, 2001. (Lists site Art.Net as a site hosting "hacker artists".)
• SuperCollider Workshop / Seminar Joel Ryan describes collaboration with hacker artists of Sillicon Vally. 21st March, 2002
• Live Journal jwz - "KICK ME" 2002. (has a discussion of what is a "hacker artist".)
• San Francisco Chronicle | SFGate.com "From websites to cobwebs Versatile former dot-commers work as GeekMaids" by Julie N. Lynem, Sept 29,2002. (Describes Elam as being a "self-described hacker artist".)
• Anthony Barker's Weblog on Linux, Technology and the Economy "Why geeks love linux" Sept 2003. (Mentions "hacker artists".)
• Live Art Research Gesture and Response in Field-Based Performance by Sha Xin Wei & Satinder Gill, 2005. (mentions "hacker artists".)
• Cool Web Page Tools "Color Sequencer" by Paul Slocum, July 2005. (Author describes himself as a "hacker artist".)

External Links

Hacker Artist Projects

• Cellular Automata by Don Hopkins
• Genetic Art at Steike.Com
• More Genetic Art at Steike.Com
• Evolved Virtual Creatures
• Aural Gratification Ring
• The Cubatron Cube 3D Light Sculpture
• The Big Round Cubatron Round 3D Light Sculpture
• SITO's Synergy / Gridcosm
• SITO's Synergy / Hygrid
• SITO's Synergy / Panic

Known Hacker Artists

• Brad Templeton
• Chris Hull (nozefngr)
• Craig Latta
• Don Hopkins
• Don Hopkin's Studio
• Ed Stastny
• Ed Falk
• Karl Sims
• Len Tower
• Lile Elam
• Lile Elam's Studio
• Leonardo DaVinci
• Mark Lotter (mkl)
• mindpixel
• PamelaZ
• Paul Slocum
• Richard Stallman (rms)
• Star (Heather Stern)
• Steve Mann
• Stig Hackvan
• Strata Chalup

Related Art Sites

• Art.Net
• Burning Man Festival
• Hacker Artists Studios on Art.Net
• Gallery of Computation
• Music.Yahoo.Com: The Hacker Artist Main Page
• Rhizome.Org Connecting Art & Technology
• SITO

Article Footnotes

(This is an initial draft of this article and more is to come. --lile 17:34, 23 June 2006 (UTC) )

--This article just got tagged for lack of notability. This is just the beginning of the article so I do hope that we will be given time to complete it before it gets bashed and deleted. Please see the talk page for more info and discussion on why "hacker artists" has nobility. thanks! --lile 19:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)