Hacking the City
"Hacking the City" is an experimental exhibition project of the Museum Folkwang for public spaces in the city of Essen. Visual artists, communication guerrillas, web designers, street artists and musicians have been invited to respond to the changes in public, mobility and communication structures in the city. The scenes of action and activity are not just urban (outdoor) spaces but also the World Wide Web and its online social communities. How are public life, democratic culture and the actions of modern resistance articulated in art? Who is now actually hacking whom?
The term "hacking", which comes from the computer world, has been extended to apply to the practice of "cultural hacking" and the art of strategic action. Among the types of action are "adbusting" and "faking" (plagiarism) strategies, adding and taking away (misappropriation), irritation and disruption, forms of performance art, concealed investigations and hidden actions.
Whereas in the 1990s numerous successful attacks by hackers highlighted the vulnerability of Internet economic and political structures and their influence on society, there is today increasing discussion regarding the strategies of visibility, invisibility, announcement and retreat. Hacking the City is therefore not least a history of failure in and around public spaces.
Curator: Dr. Sabine Maria Schmidt
July 16 – September 26, 2010, Museum Folkwang, Essen
Further information on the exhibition, which forms part of the "Mapping the Region" project of the RuhrArtMuseums, can be found on the project website: RuhrKunstMuseen