hack.it.art
Italian Hacktivism and Net Culture Event
Exhibition and Event at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien,
Berlin.
Presented by
In cooperation with University "La Sapienza of Rome,
Faculty of
Sciences of
Communication, Cultural Anthropology Department.
hack.it.art
Italian Hacktivism and Net Culture Event
1. Background: the Italian situation
Italy is a country which exists between extreme
differences. On the one
side, there is
the autocratic rule of Berlusconi who both manipulates
Italian and
European politics
and controls Italian mass media almost completely. On
the other, there
are many
intellectuals and activists speaking up against this
government.
The protests of Genua in 2001, millions of people
protesting against
the war in Iraq
and the repeating general strike are only the tip of
the iceberg.
While the institutionalised politics of Italy appear
as a rigid system,
in the past ten
years an active, very heterogeneous and
internationally connected net
of
countercultures has developed which organises actions
and
demonstrations and is
reknown for its vast variety of media initiatives.
These initiatives use different means of spreading
ideas: radio, net
streaming of
videos, mailing lists, local TV stations, websites.
Often does the
content not only deal
with political issues, but is also concerned with
subjects relevant to
net and new media
culture, such as the question of copyright, free
networks etc.
Unlike other new media art exhibitions or festivals,
the event
hack.it.art at
Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien will focus on the
activities of the
Italian independent
and countercultural media movement, presented an
exhibition, panels and
workshops
with artists, hacktivists and theoreticians involved
in the Italian
net.culture.
Is it feasible to create independent information in a
country where
there is an
autocratic media and communication monopoly? Can
people successfully
create open
and free information networks in a country where
self-controlled media
are
marginalized as underground activities?
In the current political, cultural and social
situation these are all
but trivial issues.
Hack.it.art wants to answer to these questions through
the activities
of people which
are really part of the Italian countercultural media
movement.
Exhibition, workshops
and panels will present a practical point of view,
giving voice to the
people which are
really constructing, through their action, an
alternative, in the
Italian mediascape.
2. Concept: hack.it.art
hack.it.art at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien
(
www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de) is an
exhibition and event about technological, artistic and
political
activism in Italy. This
sheds light onto a large complex of activities which,
since the 1970s,
have set up and
grown alternative networks to the traditional art
system. While these
activities may
not always be identified as art, they could more
easily be called
practices or
activism.
In Italy, technological, artistic and political
activism is closely
interconnected, in a
common network spread over the whole country
consisting of collectives,
activists and
artists alike. Their common denominator is to give
life to an
alternative and
independent way of producing information, cultural
consciousness and
communication.
In a specific way, the correct meaning for this
network of practices,
is the word
"hacktivism".
Hacktivism is the fusion of hacking and activism,
technology and
political action.
Hacktivism is a rhizomic, open-source phenomenon.
According to this point of view, hackers are not just
those who
destructively intrude
into computer systems (and who should be more
correctly called
crackers), but
those who share the good of knowledge, who fight for
free communication
and access
for all, aiming to create and spread knowledge for the
public domain.
A practical example of this is the hacker ethic which
could be called
an attitude of
gaining knowledge through technology and sharing the
results, using
both technology
and knowledge in a genuinely free way which overcomes
traditional
copyright
economy.
3. Exhibition and Event at Kunstraum
Kreuzberg/Bethanien
The exhibiton and event at Kunstraum
Kreuzberg/Bethanien will show some
different
ways in which a widespread desire to create
independent and free
communication
manifests itself. An exhibition, some workshops and
two panels will
juxtapose the
diverse Italian cultures of hacking and media activism
with its German
counterparts.
The exhibition will give opportunity to participate in
websites and
video screenings.
There will be practical media workshops and two panels
will put various
positions
and conceptions of activism, hacking and artivism into
a dialogue.
During the opening of the exhibition and at the end of
that, there will
be two
performances.
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