Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools
May 26–Sept 11, 2011
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Photoshop CS: 84 by 66 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient "Spectrum", mousedown y=22100 x=14050, mouseup y=19700 x=1800, 2010, from the series Photoshop Gradient Demonstrations, 2008– . Chromogenic print, 84 x 66 in. (213.4 x 167.6 cm). Private collection; courtesy Team Gallery, New York, and the artist
Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools, an exhibition of new work, revolves around the concept of “product demonstrations.” All of the works featured in the exhibition—ranging from video games, single channel video, kinetic sculpture, and prints, to pen plotter drawings—have been created by means of technological tools with an emphasis on the mixing and matching of both professional and amateur technologies, as well as the vernaculars these technologies encourage within culture at large. The centerpiece of the exhibition, Various Self Playing Bowling Games (2011), is a bowling alley consisting of large-scale projections of bowling games from the late 1970s to the 2000s, each hacked by the artist to throw only gutter balls. Projected in chronological order these games are a history of both video game bowling and of graphic representation in the digital medium, from pixellated abstraction to realism. The exhibition also includes works from the series Photoshop Gradient Demonstrations, consisting of unique prints showing fades between colors that have been created by using the popular image processing software Photoshop’s standard gradient tool. Another series featured in the show is CNC Wireform Demonstrations, wire sculptures randomly generated from software the artist has written and then produced by state-of-the-art industrial computer numerical control (CNC) wire-forming equipment.
Cory Arcangel’s work crosses a range of media, including computer-generated projects, performance, video, installation, music composition, sculpture, and print media. Arcangel (b. 1978) is best known for his Internet interventions, and modified video games. He has recently shown work in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, as well as in the Whitney exhibition Synthetic.
Read an essay about the exhibition by Christiane Paul.
Artworks
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011. Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, disks, and video, dimensions variable. Co-commissioned by Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Barbican Art Gallery, London. Presented at the Barbican as part of the artist’s exhibition Cory Arcangel: Beat the Champ from February 10 through May 22, 2011. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Image courtesy Barbican Art Gallery, London; photograph © Eliot Wyman
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011. Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, disks, and video, dimensions variable. Co-commissioned by Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Barbican Art Gallery, London. Presented at the Barbican as part of the artist’s exhibition Cory Arcangel: Beat the Champ from February 10 through May 22, 2011. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Image courtesy Barbican Art Gallery, London; photograph © Eliot Wyman
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011. Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, disks, and video, dimensions variable. Co-commissioned by Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Barbican Art Gallery, London. Presented at the Barbican as part of the artist’s exhibition Cory Arcangel: Beat the Champ from February 10 through May 22, 2011. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Image courtesy Barbican Art Gallery, London; photograph © Eliot Wyman
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011. Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, disks, and video, dimensions variable. Co-commissioned by Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Barbican Art Gallery, London. Presented at the Barbican as part of the artist’s exhibition Cory Arcangel: Beat the Champ from February 10 through May 22, 2011. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Image courtesy Barbican Art Gallery, London; photograph © Eliot Wyman
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Hello World #1, 2010, from the series CNC Wireform Demonstrations, 2010. CNC bent stainless steel with electro-polish finish, artist software, 32 × 7 1/2 × 5 in. (81.3 × 19.1 × 12.7 cm). Collection of the artist and Team Gallery, New York
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Still from There’s Always One At Every Party, 2010. Video, color, sound; 9:13 minutes. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Masters, 2011 (detail). Hacked Qmotions Indoor Golf Simulator, PlayStation video game console, Tiger Woods ’99 PGA Tour game disk, golf clubs, and artificial grass, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Sports Products, 2011 (detail). Painted bronze, rubber, Oakley M-frame lenses, and display unit, 74 × 17 3/4 × 17 3/4 in. (188 × 45.1 × 45.1 cm). Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Since U Been Gone, 2011 (detail). Fourteen metallic foil and screenprints, 11 11/16 × 8 1/2 in. (29.7 × 21.6 cm). Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Research in Motion (Kinetic Sculpture #4), 2011. Modified silver dancing stands and custom electronics, dimensions variable. Private collection; courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris, and the artist
Whitney Stories
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Whitney Stories Video:
Cory ArcangelRead moreBefore the age of 35, Cory Arcangel had already been included in numerous exhibitions at the Whitney including the 2004 Biennial and Pro Tools, a 2011 full-floor solo show. In this Whitney Stories video, Arcangel speaks about his relationship to pop culture and avant-garde art, the paradox of working in the constantly-evolving realm of new media, and his history of taking risks at the Museum.
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Cory Arcangel Re-Blogs the Internet
Read moreCory Arcangel’s online projects expose the sense of humor people unwittingly reveal through their online behavior.
Installation Photography
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, discs, and video, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, discs, and video, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, discs, and video, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, discs, and video, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, discs, and video, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Various Self Playing Bowling Games (aka Beat the Champ), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Hacked video game controllers, game consoles, cartridges, discs, and video, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London; and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Installation view of Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 26, 2011–September 11,2011). Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Installation view of Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 26, 2011–September 11,2011). Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Installation view of Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 26, 2011–September 11,2011). Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), Research in Motion (Kinetic Sculpture #4), 2011 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Modified silver dancing stands and custom electronics, dimensions variable. Private collection; courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris, and the artist. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
Cory Arcangel (b. 1978), There’s Always One At Every Party, 2010 (installation view, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). Video, color, sound; 9:13 minutes. Collection of the artist; Team Gallery, New York; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg and Paris. Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins
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In the News
“[Arcangel’s] potent mix of bottoms-up humor and technical wizardry has clearly struck a cultural nerve.”
—The New York Times
"Arcangel finds abject beauty in the way that modern technology is doomed to obsolescence."
—The New Yorker
Interview with Cory Arcangel by artist Mary Heilmann
—Interview Magazine
“The Joys of Obsolescence”
—New York
500 words: Cory Arcangel
—Artforum
