Cory Arcangel & Paper Rad

Private Collection
Bukowskis, Stockholm, Spring 2011, Lot 398
Acquired from the above by the present owner

New York, Deitch Projects, Paper Rad. Cory Arcangel: Super Mario Movie, January - February 2005 (edition no. unknown)
Zurich, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Cory Arcangel (BEIGE): Nerdzone Number 1, April - May 2005, pp. 86 - 100, illustrated in colour (screenshots of the video illustrated, edition no. unknown)

Condition: This work is in very good and original condition and in full working order. All surface irregularities are in keeping with the artists' use of found media.
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Working in a contradictory manner that both employs and mocks the lightning-fast cycle of technological turnover in today’s society, Cory Arcangel is a dynamic multi-media artist with a unique artistic output. Drawing on his expertise in coding and programming, Arcangel is perhaps most well-known for his manipulation of outdated gaming devices as seen in the current lot, Super Mario Movie. This work uses a rigorous conceptual approach by exploiting obsolete technology that in turn offers the viewer a sense of nostalgia whilst simultaneously producing a fresh and new experience. Arcangel’s fascinations with technologies that are both old and new are well-documented aspects of his oeuvre and exemplified within the current lot.

Super Mario Movie is a reprogrammed 8-bit Nintendo game cartridge revolving around the famed Italian plumber Mario who first made his appearance in 1981 as a character in the videogame ‘Donkey Kong’. Since Mario’s rise to fame he has become the main character in approximately 200 different videogames, making him somewhat of a pop-culture icon. In this work Arcangel hacks the game cartridge to produce a 15-minute movie showing how Mario’s life has spiralled out of control as a result of the gradual decay of his outdated technology. In the opening scene we read the following text; “as a video game grows old its content and internal logic deteriorate. For a character caught in this breakdown problems affect every area of life.” Whilst being partly satirical, Arcangel is also describing the natural degradation process that eventually affects all information storage devices and the short life-span that these technologies experience. This is partly due to the rapidly evolving pace of technological advancement and as such can be read as a comment on our insatiable hunger for constantly new and updated technology.

Super Mario Movie is an immersive, hyperactive and ecstatic spectacle that not only comments upon the use of technology in today’s society but also the use of technology within contemporary art and the role that the gallery has to play in this. The reprogrammed cartridge was developed with a narrative function in mind, in the sense that it is meant to be watched from beginning to end, with a white scene signalling the ‘crash’ of the game at the end. However, Arcangel was also aware that the work would need to be played on a loop when exhibited and so would need to be accessible at any time the viewer walked in to the gallery. Arcangel describes this as a problem of ‘gallery time’ which is a “completely warped notion of what time is because a cinema is pretty clear, you sit down and watch it from beginning to end. But to take the construct of cinema and take it to a gallery you start working in all these grey areas”(Cory Arcangel in Art Babble, Cory Arcangel discusses Super Mario Movie, Washington, 2009, 5:10).

It is interesting to note that Arcangel’s practice takes old, outdated versions of technology and repurposes them and this can also be done with his art works themselves. For example, Arcangel restaged two of his earlier works, Super Mario Clouds, (2002) and F1 Racer, (2004) which had originally been presented as analog videos (also hacked Nintendo cartridges) and were subsequently presented together as a new installation called QuickOffice in 2013. Arcangel’s practice thrives on self-reflection and the ability to update or upgrade his work in response to his audience and the latest discoveries in his field. This speaks volumes as to the longevity of Arcangel’s oeuvre and the dynamic way in which he is able to reprogram, repurpose, reinstate and reimagine not only obsolete technology but also works of art themselves.