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Cory Arcangel is an artist and performer who
works with early computers, the Internet, and video game
systems. He is best known for his Nintendo game cartridge
hacks, and his reworking of obsolete computer systems
of the 1970s and '80s, such as the Commodore 64 and Atari
800. Arcangel often works with the art collective/record
label Beige, a loosely defined ensemble of artists and
programmers who work collaboratively in digital media.
Beige has produced videos, Web projects, and albums of
electronic music, as well as modified Nintendo video game
cartridges. Arcangel is also a member of the collective
Radical Software Group (RSG).
Arcangel's works often assume multiple forms and iterations
for specific contexts and audiences. A single work can
move from source code to installation to video. For example,
Super Mario Clouds, a Nintendo cartridge hack,
originated as a downloadable Internet art piece, which
was replicated, mutated and re-circulated by like-minded
hackers. The same work was then reborn as a multi-projection
installation that was shown in gallery and museum exhibitions
and sold as an edition. Finally, Arcangel created a single-channel
video version that is distributed to educational and cultural
audiences. This case study looks at this and other works
by Arcangel to explore the implications of their mutability
for exhibition, collection and preservation.
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