Artists are hackers. The essence of hacking is to deviate from an established way of thinking or doing something. To be an artist requires one to embrace breaking the rules, starting with quick and inelegant solutions to solve complex problems, and making rough and heavy cuts into ineffective ideas.

This thesis adapts four definitions of hacking to position it as a valid and productive method for making artwork. It serves as documentation of the author’s path in understanding his working process as an artist. Along the way, he examines the work of historic and contemporary artists who have engaged hacking as part of their practice, including Gordon Matta-Clark, Dieter Roth, Phyllida Barlow, Rob Swainston, Daniel Brice, and Dirk De Bruycker.

The artworks in the accompanying thesis exhibition are the results of the hacking process. The prints begin as monotypes and monoprints, which yield unique results for each image. The artist tears the prints after the first printed layer. They are then shuffled, reassembled, reprinted, and shuffled again before being sewn together.

Time, Action, Wear, Memory embodies the unpredictability of not knowing or being able to expect exactly what will result when the work begins. The uncertainty is an important stimulus for making. It requires the maker to set up the conditions for something to happen, but it does not dictate the final output. It is an ongoing process of make, observe, respond, make, observe, respond.