FOCUS: Cory Arcangel, Totally Fucked

12 November – 1 December 2020

Totally Fucked (2003) is the focus of Lisson Gallery's second show at 22 Cork Street in London. This historic work by Cory Arcangel is an infinite loop where the famed figure, Super Mario, is stuck on a block in a sea of blue pixels. This rarely-seen artwork is a video generated by a Nintendo Entertainment System playing a Super Mario Bros. cartridge which has been hacked by Arcangel.

Viewable from the street (and open physically as soon as regulations allow), as well as downloadable as a ROM file from the artist's website & Github account, Totally Fucked is a commentary on our obsession with technology and the absurdity of our expectation of it to enhance our lives. Like many of Arcangel’s works, the game is modified so that the character is destined to fail – the resulting animation emits a sense of persistent, infinite frustration, representing our universal experience of dealing with modern technology, as well as being a fitting, wry expression of this past year.

To coincide with the exhibition, Arcangel's Totally Fucked is presented above as a .NES ROM – a virtual copy of the physical cartridge – running live in the browser via the javascript Nintendo emulator JSNES.

Further information on Totally Fucked is available via coryarcangel.com.

FOCUS: Cory Arcangel, Totally Fucked artwork

Totally Fucked, 2003
Handmade hacked Super Mario Bros. cartridge, Nintendo NES video game system, artist software
Dimensions variable