Hacker Culture Roots a New Sculpture Exhibition

Simon Denny's 'Products for Organising' looks at how the organizational structures of hackers have inspired the radical management practices of companies like Apple.

by Kevin Holmes

November 25, 2015, 2:00pm

Simon Denny; Formalised Org Chart/Architectural Model: Holacracy, 2015 Mixed media; Photo: Nick Ash; Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne Hacker organizations and corporate culture are explored and visually dissected in the sculptures of New Zealand artist Simon Denny. Denny's current exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, Products for Organising features dual sections which split the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in two. They look at the organizational and managerial models from two sides of the tech industry coin: the hacker and contemporary commercial tech sectors—and how the former influenced the latter.

"Something that always seems relevant is how changes in technology displace experience and space. I am a fan of the way artists experience and reflect on those changes," notes Denny. "The experience of change through technology is something constant."

One section of the exhibition Products for Emergent Organisations looks at the hacker communities. In a collaboration with artist Matt Goerzen, glass display cases show the structures of computer hacking circles, along with showcasing the narrative of hacking history using objects, hardware, and various materials.

"The racks present examples of tools and products that illustrate key moments in the development of emergent hacker organizational practices," says the press release, "including: information about the Tech Model Railroad Club, a student organization formed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1946 that is often considered to be the birthplace of hacking culture; phone-hacking communities that began in the 1950s and refined their political and ethical commitment through to the early 1980s; hackers' use and exploration of computer bulletin-board systems (BBSes) and ARPANET, perceived as the precursors to the internet; as well as cryptography and the hackers who identified themselves as ‘cypherpunks’ in the 1980s and 90s."

In the other section, Products for Formalised Organisations,instead of being rectangular towers, the sculptures are circular. The internal makeup, both physical and organizational, of tech companies Zappos and Apple, and UK spying agency GCHQ, inform these sculptures. These are used as "case studies of their branded managerial techniques such as Holacracy and Agile. Holacracy is a system for redistributing authority throughout the organization. Agile is a highly flexible methodology that grew out of software development methods, emphasizing collaborations between teams by prompting them to constantly reassess themselves."

The shapes of the sculptures themselves take inspiration from the circular buildings and floor plans that these organizations have as their HQs, but are also peppered with the management-speak and jargon used in these companies. Diagrams, graphics, and management books written by best-selling business gurus enthusiastically populate the circles like they would a meeting room whiteboard.

"I am a fan of the culture of entrepreneurship." Denny says. "An artist is also a business. Many of the principles of work and the world that I see in this community seem very current and relevant. The values associated with entrepreneurship are very close to my work."

Simon Denny; Formalised Org Chart/Architectural Model: GCHQ 3 Agile/Holacracy Workspace, 2015 (detail); Mixed media; Photo: Nick Ash; Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne