Hacking is in nowadays a common practice among post-internet artists. By subverting the system, reverse engineering, hacking the world, defending access and openismus, we employ a top-down methodology using deconstruction as a method to “make” art. 

Acknowledging Vilém Flusser's (1986) challenge of opening the “black box” we question what is behind the tech industries, unravel its toxic commodity chains at the same time, challenging the potentialities of the apparatus with the awareness of the impact of technology in the current neo-liberal market. 

Instead of consuming commodities off the shelf,  we recycle materials, instead of accepting the toxic afterlife of the dysfunctional devices, we analyse the genesis and the establishment of control over distributed, development and production and introduction of (new) technologies, to demystify the actants that benefit from their application and licensing, those who profit from opacity and the designed obsolescence. 

Built upon the belief that art practice can be a critical impetus for social change, hacking strategies and methods are in this lecture understood as potential tools for emancipation and question the current consumer capitalist culture. Electronic Tinkering is an invitation for those that are interested in intersecting their view points with other politics of perception contributing for a critical thought towards the necessity of demythifying and demystifying the apparatus.

Drawn on the context of the lecture the students will learn the basics of electronics and programming in order to develop interactive art projects with microcontrollers — Arduino, Teensy 3.1 and/or LilyPad. The program will focus on tangible HCI interfaces, using nonconformist materials (such as clay, plants, fruits, e-waste) to build hardware. 

The students will be encouraged to create their own art projects inspired by DIY and open source communities

Regular attendance, active participation and commitment in applying the contents of the lecture in an art prototype is a prerequisite for obtaining a mark. Examination: 80% attendance; 20% practical experiments/ prototype