Hacking as a digital craft.
Subversive approaches to cultural heritage preservation
Dissertation project
led by Sabina Simonič, Institute for Conservation – Restoration
Abstract
The dissertation conceptualizes hacking as a form of digital craftsmanship and situates it within cultural and ethical frameworks in order to reveal its methodological potential for the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. It deconstructs distorted media portrayals of hacking, critically examines the terminology, and demonstrates why hacking should be understood as a culturally embedded, craft-based digital practice.
Just as hackers metaphorically look behind closed doors, conservators-restorers also act as deconstructive and investigative agents whose work often unfolds out of sight. They operate at the intersections of fragmentation and information loss, where knowledge is frequently encrypted, protected, or institutionally regulated. However, when knowledge is commodified and treated as an economic asset and restricted through licensing or secrecy, conservators may likewise find themselves in an oppositional position. In this context, the dissertation takes a critical stance toward the promotion and support of proprietary, that is, unfree, information systems.
The dissertation addresses a significant gap in existing research: although hacker communities have been extensively examined in terms of subcultural identity, technical practice, and political activism, little attention has been paid to how their methods and ethical principles may inform the preservation of cultural heritage. Responding to this gap, the dissertation develops three guiding questions. First, it explores how practices of repair, do-it-yourself, and hacking transform linear models of production and consumption into recursive, participatory processes of value creation. Second, it investigates how restrictions on tacit and explicit knowledge generate an increasing separation between humans and the objects they engage with, distancing them from their work, their own agency, and autonomous forms of practice. Third, it examines the ethical and legal tensions that arise when proprietary systems or copyright regimes limit access to knowledge and thereby threaten cultural heritage in the long term.
The resulting tension between individualistic and collective orientations raises fundamental questions of authorship, autonomy, and intellectual property, while also deepening the understanding of the professional role of conservators-restorers and the mimetic dimensions of their work.
Keywords: Hacking / Prosumer / Open Access / FLOSS / Proprietary Systems / Cultural Relativism / Information Ethics / Autonomy / Copyright / Copyleft / Conservation / Restoration / Time-Based Media / Digital Cultural Heritage
Short biography
Sabina Simonič is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her professional specialization lies in the preservation of modern and contemporary art, a field she also teaches at the Institute for Conservation–Restoration. Within the Academy, she serves as the primary contact for questions relating to modern materials—particularly plastics—and their deterioration phenomena. Simonič is ITIL-certified and has extensive knowledge of management processes and their application within organizational structures. In addition to her academic qualifications, she holds an artistic–craft training in sculptural techniques and has many years of experience as an artist assistant, providing her with a broad and applied practical background.
As a board member and the first female chair of Metalab, Austria’s first hackerspace, she experienced the rise of the hacker scene in the late 2000s firsthand and played a key role in shaping its institutional development. She was also significantly involved in the early development of Vienna’s feminist hackerspace, Mz Baltazar’s Lab.
Her deep understanding of conservation–restoration practice also informed her professional advocacy work. As a board member and Vice President of the Austrian professional association of conservators and restorers (ÖRV), and delegate to the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organisations (E.C.C.O.), she represented the professional interests of the field for many years and engaged intensively with questions of professional identity and role definition within conservation–restoration.
Simonič is currently a board member of the European Network for Conservation-Restoration Education (ENCoRE), representing the European seat for conservation–restoration training institutions held at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her work within ENCoRE focuses on professional competencies, qualification frameworks, and educational standards.