Splicetoday

Moving Pictures
Jun 30, 2008, 11:45AM

Deconstructing Mario

Digital artist Cory Arcangel and pop art collective Paper Rad collaborated three years ago on this moving portrait of a decaying video game character's existential crisis. If information is data, what do you learn about yourself when the technological hardware that birthed you falls apart?

Part 1

The following video was included in this article:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/FPStl59evo0

While parts of the movie can drag a little long (depending on your taste for MIDI music and fractured neon screen shots), the end becomes truly poignant when Mario confronts his primordial ancestor Pong in the guts of his own video game, then contemplates his Id in a giant pixilated face before undergoing a kind of transubstantiation.

Part 2

 

Part 3

 

 

Cory Arcangel's work can be seen on his website.

Paper Rad is also all up in the interweb.

Discussion
  • Who wrote this introduction? Information is data by definition, and this is just "Rejected" with more trademark infringement and a less interesting story. If you're looking for subverted trademarks destroying themselves, then "Superstar" by Todd Haynes is probably a better place to start.

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