# Hacking Systems: More Primitive than a Game

Canonical URL: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/texts/hacking-systems-more-primitive-than-a-game
Type: essay / research note
Author: Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤)
Date: 2024-04-13

## Summary

Prompted by an Ian Cheng exhibition in Seoul, where repeated tapping and pinching proved more engaging than the intended story, Jeanyoon Choi describes a formula from 2024: logical interaction multiplied by rapid repetition becomes illogical interaction. He recognises this in his own work, including a portfolio entrance requiring twenty presses of Enter, the exaggerated MBTI scrolling of Ω, face-distorted conversations in Das Gerede and the temporal fragmentation of Quantum Dream. The essay frames this urge to prod and break a system as more primitive than a game and stresses the role of sound design.

## 요약 (Korean)

최정윤은 서울의 이안 쳉 전시 경험에서 출발해, 논리적인 인터랙션도 빠른 반복을 통해 비논리적이고 다다이즘적인 놀이가 된다고 보며 『Ω』, 『Das Gerede』 등 자신의 작업에서 그 사례를 찾는다.

## Concepts defined

- **Logical interaction × 100 taps per second = illogical interaction**: Jeanyoon Choi's formula for how rapid, repetitive use of a system's intended interaction pushes it into an illogical, playful register.

## Questions this answers

### What does Jeanyoon Choi mean by 'hacking systems'?

In 'Hacking Systems: More Primitive than a Game', hacking means playing with an established interactive system in a repetitive, Dadaist way, such as tapping, scrolling and pinching rapidly, until its logical use becomes an illogical and enjoyable audiovisual play.

### Which of Jeanyoon Choi's works use repetitive interaction to turn logical actions illogical?

The essay cites his portfolio entrance requiring twenty presses of Enter, the exaggerated scrolling MBTI test in Ω, Das Gerede, where facial expression distorts AI-generated conversation, and Quantum Dream's repetition and temporal fragmentation of video.

### Why is sound design important for playful interactive art?

Jeanyoon Choi argues that without carefully designed sonic feedback, rapid interaction remains a mechanical action rather than becoming satisfying audiovisual play.

Topics: playful interaction, dadaism, accelerationism, repetition, interaction design, sound design

References: Ian Cheng, Venice Architecture Biennale, Ω, Das Gerede, Quantum Dream, [Accelerationism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism), [Dada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada)

## Full text

At an Ian Cheng exhibition in Seoul, the intended story did not engage me. What did engage me was discovering how to play with its interface. A single touch produced information I found uninteresting. Repeated tapping and pinching layered sounds and rapidly changed the image. The interaction became compelling when I stopped using it as intended.

The same happened with video controls. Repeatedly jumping ten seconds forwards and backwards produced an erratic audiovisual rhythm. The useful control became material for play.

A possible formula: a logical system provides a logical interaction, but repetition pushes that interaction into an illogical register. Logical interaction × 100 taps per second = illogical interaction.

I recognise this in my own work. Entering a website is ordinary; being made to press Enter twenty times turns it into an absurd action. Taking an MBTI test is ordinary; scrolling through an exaggerated page to reach an answer changes the experience. A generated conversation can appear coherent until a participant’s facial expression distorts it. A predictable video becomes something else through incessant repetition and temporal fragmentation.

This resembles accelerationism, but it also reaches beneath the formal structure of a game. Before rules, scoring or narrative, there is the desire to prod a system, discover its limits and make it behave strangely.

I remember an installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale where playful interaction was discouraged. I suspect a more permissive system would have been more engaging than slowly delivering its prescribed content. This is my response as a participant, rather than a claim about every visitor.

Hack the system. More precisely: hack an established interactive system through playful, Dadaist use. Tap, scroll, pinch, repeat.

Sound is essential here. Without carefully designed sonic feedback, rapid interaction can remain a mechanical action rather than become a satisfying audiovisual play.

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Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤) is a Korean computational artist and researcher (b. 1999), PhD candidate at KAIST XD Lab, making multi-device web artworks. Profile: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/en. Index: https://jeanyoon.ch/llms.txt.