Connor Gottfried In Dreams For Sale

About this work

Connor Gottfried has established himself as a distinctive voice within the growing field of new media and interactive art, creating works that interrogate the relationship between nostalgia, technology, and embodied experience. His practice draws from the visual and mechanical language of early gaming systems, transforming consumer electronics into meditative sculptural objects that invite prolonged engagement rather than passive observation. In Dreams represents a significant development in Gottfried's ongoing exploration of the Nintendo Entertainment System as both cultural artifact and artistic medium. The work incorporates functional hardware—dual IPS screens, a Raspberry Pi running an NES emulator, and an original controller—within a precisely fabricated aluminum composite structure. The piece runs Super Mario Bros. 2, a game notably derived from an unrelated Japanese title and distinguished by its dreamlike imagery and mechanics. Gottfried's selection is deliberate; the game's surreal qualities and contested origin story mirror the artist's interest in how memory reshapes our understanding of familiar objects and experiences. The sculptural housing elevates the interactive components beyond their utilitarian origins while the custom 3D printed controller mount extends an implicit invitation to play, collapsing the distance between viewer and participant. This tension—between the artwork's formal presence and its demand for physical engagement—positions the piece within broader contemporary conversations about screen-based experience and the museological treatment of digital culture. At 30.5 by 37 by 7 inches, the work maintains a domestic scale that reinforces its thematic concerns with private ritual and personal memory. For acquisition inquiries regarding this work, please contact Guy Hepner directly.