HARDcoded is an ongoing collaboration between newMedia artists in Chicago + Mexico City, that explore the cross-over between digital noise, punk, + magic.
HARDcoded is a wordplay between embedded/non-mailable data sets in software development, like End User License Agreements (or EULA) or closed-source proprietary computer applications, + the xXxHARDCORExXx ethic of Punk culture. Our (artists + organizers alike) approach to reconstruct/disrupt the controlled environment of digital technology by breaking these social devices with wizardry. Here, wizardry is informed by Tolkien references in early moments of information technology + digital networking, as well as playfully applying narratives of spell casting, enchantment, + fantasy to the otherwise dull architecture of cyberspace. This wizardy of course would be nothing without “magic.”
This “magic,” which serves as ironic term with a critical bent, can break the spell of traditional methods of cultural communication + sharing in an ever-growing oppressive state.
HARDcoded seeks to create a space where ruptures in our digital playing field (glitch, noise, + hacked/repurposed material/tools) can take precedence over the norms of our contemporary static digital landscape. The collaboration borrows from a Punk ethics/ethos + the necessity for a sustainable break away from the normative practices of commercial platforms. By invoking these ideologies/methodologies HARDcoded hopes to provide/facilitate a DIY/DIT network of subversion. In attempting to approach this task, HARDcoded wishes to provide a social platform of workshops, talks, + performances (and hybrids of these three) to enable these fissures to break through the veil of our closed-source expectations + reliance.
The Program consists of workshops/talks by ::
[1PM 2.30PM ] Alex Ignlizian + Mark Beasley + Cassandra Rosas (Hardware Hacking/Building)
[2.30 PM 3 PM] Jake Elliot dai5ychain.net (Reprogramming Computer Literacy)
[3 PM 3.30 PM] Marisa Plumb Working Engineer, Pathegon corp. (Lecture/Performance)
[3. 30 PM 4.30 PM] Temporary Services temporaryservices.org (Lecture on Urban Hacktivism)
[4.30 PM 5 PM] criticalartware criticalartware.net (Media Art Histories Lecture)
[5 PM 7 PM]
Installation By ::
Mark Beasley (DotMatrix Printer + Sound Installation)
Paul Hertz collaboratory.nunet.net/phertz/ (Ignotus the Mage, Performance/Installation)
[7 PM 9 PM]
Nightly Performances/screening by ::
Valerie Brewer (Machinima Video)
Professor Pangaea (Machinima Video)
CHHO (The Chicago Hacked Hardware Orchestra, Performance from Workshop) criticalartware w/ Morgan Higby Flowers criticalartware.net (Realtime Artware Development Performance)
I
++ simultaneously streaming @ CentroMultiMedia + BORDER
Mexico City DF, Mexico