Zapruder n. 45 / Abstract Zoom

A book about the evolution of the Italian hacktivism and net culture from the 1980s till today. Networking means to create nets of relations, where the publisher and the reader, the artist and the audience, act on the same level. The book is a first tentative reconstruction of the history of artistic networking in Italy, through an analysis of media and art projects which during the past twenty years have given way to a creative, shared and aware use of technologies, from video to computers, contributing to the creation of Italian hacker communities. The Italian network proposes a form of critical information, disseminated through independent and collective projects where the idea of freedom of expression is a central theme. In Italy, thanks to the alternative use of Internet, during the past twenty years a vast national network of people who share political, cultural and artistic views has been formed. The book describes the evolution of the Italian hacktivism and net culture from the 1980s till today. It builds a reflection on the new role of the artist and author who becomes a networker, operating in collective nets, reconnecting to Neoavant-garde practices of the 1960s (first and foremost Fluxus), but also mail art, Neoism and Luther Blissett. A path which began in BBSes, alternative web platforms spread in Italy through the 1980s even before the Internet even existed, and then moved on to Hackmeetings, to Telestreet and networking art by different artists such as 0100101110101101.ORG, [epidemiC], Jaromil, Giacomo Verde, Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici, Correnti Magnetiche, Candida TV, Tommaso Tozzi, Federico Bucalossi, Massimo Contrasto, Mariano Equizzi, Pigreca, Molleindustria, Guerriglia Marketing, Sexyshock, Phag Off and many others.

2012

When in September 1995 President Jacques Chirac announced that France would run a series of nuclear tests in the Polynesian atoll of Mururoa, a group of Italian activists protested organizing an attack against the websites of the French government. The Muroroa netstrike,“a networked version of a peaceful sit-in” according to its promoters, showed how activists could exploit the technical properties of digital technology to make a political statement.

Il primo tentativo di ricostruzione della storia del networking artistico in Italia. Un'analisi sull'uso creativo e condiviso delle tecnologie, dal video al computer e sulla formazione di una comunità hacker italiana. Una riflessione sul ruolo dell'artista che si fa networker, ricollegandosi alle neoavanguardie degli anni Sessanta. Scritto da Tatiana Bazzichelli. Prefazione di Derrick de Kerckhove. Postfazione ed editing di Simonetta Fadda (Costa & Nolan, Milano, uscita novembre 2006). Fare network significa creare reti di relazione, per la condivisione di esperienze e idee in vista di una comunicazione e di una sperimentazione artistica in cui emittente e destinatario, artista e pubblico, agiscono sullo stesso piano. In Italia, grazie all'uso alternativo della rete Internet, nel corso di venti anni di sperimentazione si è formato un vasto network nazionale di persone che condividono obiettivi politici, culturali e artistici. Attivi in ambienti underground, questi progetti utilizzano media diversi (computer, video, televisione, radio, riviste) e si occupano di sperimentazione tecnologica, ovvero di hacktivism, secondo la terminologia in uso in Italia dove la componente politica è centrale. Il network italiano propone infatti una forma di informazione critica, diffusa attraverso progetti indipendenti e collettivi in cui l'idea della libertà di espressione è centrale. Allo stesso tempo, costruisce una riflessione sul nuovo ruolo dell'artista e autore che si fa networker, operatore di reti collettive, ricollegandosi alle pratiche artistiche delle Neoavanguardie degli anni Sessanta (prima fra tutte Fluxus), ma anche alla Mail Art, al Neoismo e a Luther Blissett. Un percorso che va dalle BBS, reti telematiche alternative diffuse in Italia dalla metà degli anni Ottanta ancor prima di Internet, fino agli Hackmeeting, alle Telestreet e alle pratiche di networking e net art di diversi artisti e attivisti, fra cui 0100101110101101.ORG, [epidemiC], Jaromil, Giacomo Verde, Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici, Correnti Magnetiche, Candida TV, Tommaso Tozzi, Federico Bucalossi, Massimo Contrasto, Mariano Equizzi, Pigreca, Molleindustria, Guerriglia Marketing, Sexyshock, Phag Off e molti altri.

After the emergence of Web 2.0, the critical framework of art and hacktivism has shifted from developing strategies of opposition to embarking on the art of disruption. By identifying the emerging contradictions within the current economical and political framework of Web 2.0, the aim is to reflect on the status of activist and hacker practices as well as those of artists in the new generation of social media (or so called Web 2.0 technologies), analysing the interferences between networking participation and disruptive business innovation. Connecting together disruptive practices of networked art and hacking in California and Europe, Tatiana Bazzichelli proposes a constellation of social networking projects that challenge the notion of power and hegemony, such as mail art, Neoism, The Church of the SubGenius, Luther Blissett, Anonymous, Anna Adamolo, Les Liens Invisibles, the Telekommunisten collective, The San Francisco Suicide Club, The Cacophony Society, the early Burning Man Festival, the NoiseBridge hackerspace, and many others.

Master's Dissertation, 2018

Problematizing mainstream depictions of hacktivists and Anonymous as ‘vigilante heroes’, ‘malicious pranksters’, and ‘global threats’ (Klein, 2014), as well as incumbent securitization responses to activism online, the present study aims to develop an articulate and in-depth understanding of (h)activist identities online by examining hacktivist’s use of ‘alternative media’ (Lievrouw, 2011). As an explorative analysis, this research focuses on one Anonymous affiliated community, utilizing six in-depth interviews and a qualitative content analysis of 96 blog posts. Ultimately, the findings indicate that two types of blog posts are generated by the community, those that denote, sustain, and mobilize hacktivist actions, and those that supplement these posts through educative elements: ‘direct action’ and ‘meta-action’, respectively. Within these categories, participant’s experiences and existing literature indicate the community’s nuanced identity draws similarities to prevailing research on hacking, hacktivism, Anonymous, and activists over-all, yet differences which reflect contextual factors and broader trends. In conclusion, the author details four succinct and indispensable qualities of the community surrounding the collective and individual’s revolutionary capacities, conscientious yet leery tendencies, and ironically, the notion of a ‘structured swarm’. These explorative conclusions ultimately demand more comprehensible studies which appreciate the geo-cultural and language differences within these communities, and the relationship of these numerous identities to other marginalized communities worldwide.

This article is an empirically grounded conceptual investigation of the failures of mediatized activism in 2011 in Azerbaijan and Turkey. By analyzing two specific cases, namely the complete dispersion of corporate social media based opposition in Azerbaijan, and arrests of Anonymous led hack-tivists in Turkey, the article aims to contribute to the discussion on the future of mediatized activism in the face of the growing pervasive surveillance, conducted by state intelligence agencies in collaboration with private infotainment and telecommunications companies. By elaborating on the shortcomings and the promises of social media based activism and hacktivism, the article discusses the possibility of building alternative online spaces, which can bring these two types of mediatized activism together, and help to connect activists with the rest of the society—especially the otherwise consenting middle classes of semi-authoritarian countries.

Protest rhetoric has always provided a prime example of how communication can work to change the human condition, but strategies of protest have evolved as the United States has transformed into an information economy. Although protest remains “on the streets,” it has also moved into the digital realm. This essay builds on the work of Franklyn Haiman by considering the ethical and rhetorical dimensions of hacktivism (politically motivated computer hacking). After briefly tracing the historical development of hacktivism, I discuss several recent politically motivated website defacements and denial of service attacks, concluding that Haiman’s argument that the rhetoric of the streets should be held to different rhetorical and ethical standards still holds true in the online world.

Debates in the Digital Humanities, 2012