Curatorial > HACKING / MODDING / REMIXING As Feminist Protest

Artwork pictured:

Rachel Simone Weil
Hello Kitty Land, 2002
custom NES cartridge

Hello Kitty Land is an unfinished, hacked version of the revered 1985 video game Super Mario Bros. The hack, created by the artist in her teenage years, transforms the original game into a pastel-hued version featuring Sanrio characters such as Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty Land is an exercise in alternative history and speculative futures that give primacy to nostalgia for girly-girl girlhood. It asks, “What if this game had shipped with the NES console instead of Super Mario Bros.? How would video game history be different today?”