Hack-able Curator

This short essay analyzes the social and cultural implications of the work Hack-able Curator (2007). It is an interactive physical installation using robotics, a search engine of the Flickr API, and mobile messaging. It makes curatorial decisions by using an algorithm that allows it to choose images from the popular photo-sharing website Flickr. The online module searches Flickr for the best images containing the tags Slow and Plymouth, so that it can use them in a virtual exhibition. It is ‘hackable’ because everyone can both add images to the main resource by uploading them to Flickr or vote for any images displayed on the website by sending an SMS message to the system. Even if an image is chosen, there is an opportunity to opt-out, and the choice is displayed on this web site.