Invader’s Global Space Invasion
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Since 1998, Invader has been placing his mosaics in cities around the world, invading the world bit by bit.
The Concept
Invader has turned cities into playgrounds for his art, effectively orchestrating a global invasion. Each new city became a canvas for his mosaics, with Invader adapting his characters to reflect local culture and landmarks. This global expansion turned his project into a worldwide phenomenon.
Invader’s mosaics are made from ceramic tiles that resemble pixels in video games. He gives pixelization in the digital world a physical appearance with square-shaped tiles being the perfect material, displaying his pieces directly on walls as if they are already the canvas itself. These creatures are pre-made with pixels and are somewhat ready for tile reproduction.
The pseudonymous French street artist has captivated the world with his unique style of urban art. Known for his distinctive mosaics inspired by the pixelated graphics of 1970s and 1980s video games, he places these artworks in public spaces. As such, Invader blurs the line between digital and physical realms and creates a surreal experience for viewers. Soon, all of his pieces will become a fragment of a tentacular exapnsion of the world.
Invaders are mostly inspired by game characters. The majority of the paintings are Space Invader-themed, but they are starting to change from the original inspiration to other popular video games. We talked about it here(placeholder).
In my own eyes, they are the perfect icons of our time, a time when digital technologies are the heartbeat of our world.
-Invader
The creation process of one of his mosaics in Los Angles is shown on his Facebook
The Search
A worldwide canvas has been established by Invader's invasions around the globe. There are over 4000 works in over 80 cities across the globe. Each city becomes a canvas for his mosaics, which are often strategically placed in specific locations. Some are in higher visibility areas but others remain in the shadows.
You can check whether your city is invaded on World Invasion
He published his app FlashInvaders that allows fans to track and score points for finding his works
All the invaders installed are traceable. At the beginning of the project, Invader had to use plenty of photographic film and write everything by hand with a city map and a small notebook. However, it is now much easier with digital technology. He has created a database for every single art piece with pictures, date of birth, address,
PA_1261
Every single invader is given a code. The format would be as follows, Location_No. Every Invader you see on the streets could be identified and captured on the app.
PA_1261 is an example. It is located in Paris and is the 1261st Invader that is located in Paris. Other short terms of cities would be LDN for London, NY for New York, LA for Los Angeles, BGK for Bangkok, HK for Hong Kong, and so on.
In addition, the scoring system works by giving a score of 10 to 100 for every new piece installed. Every city has its own score which is the sum of all the Space Invaders created on its walls. For example, London has 162 invasions and 4000 points. New York, on the other hand, has 219 invasions and 6760 points.
The introduction of the FlashInvaders app helps engage the audience and the artist. This app gamified the experience of finding his mosaics, allowing users to track and score points for each piece they discovered. This interactive element reinforced the playful nature of his work and encouraged people to explore their urban environments more actively.
FlashInvaders App Trailer
There are no set rules he follows in his world invasion
NY_111
The placement is an essential part of the invasion. He makes personal decisions and finds locations in cities that are significant and iconic. It’s a time-consuming process scouting a highly developed city, Invader says, as he often compares it to urban acupuncture.
For example, the Mario Invader above, incorporates the surroundings in New York City to the world of Mario Bros and seemingly make Mario leaving the pipes in New York.
I organized a detailed process by which I explored international densely populated urban areas and invade them.
There are usually 20 to 50 pieces displayed per city, which is quite an impressive number. But at times, Invader returns to the same city, deploying multiple invasions. “Waves as I like to call them,” says Invader. Invader aims to continuously and restlessly invade new spaces with the principle of “Anytime, Anywhere”.
I try to evolve and reinvent myself at all times while leading a precise and serious aesthetic invasion project.
