I Shot Andy Warhol (2002)
TV set, videogame console, software, gun. Courtesy: the artist and Team Gallery, New York.
In I Shot Andy Warhol, Arcangel has hacked a Nintendo videogame system, replacing the bad guys with the Pope, Flavor Flav, Colonel Sanders and Andy Warhol. Arcangel chose these characters for their cultural status and due to the fact that they could be reduced to a small number of pixels and still remain recognisable.
The objective of Arcangel’s customisation is to shoot the pop artist and the game ends when you miss Warhol ten times. I Shot Andy Warhol is a commentary on pop culture and desensitisation. It is based on a 1984 Nintendo videogame called Hogan’s Alley, which was one of the first to use a light gun as an input device.
