Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile

1 Sep 2008 Category: Street Art, Worldwide

Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile

"ROIRO," 2005: French artist Invader's loves to tear apart original Rubik's cubes for his vintage game motifs in 3D -- when he doesn't map the streets with his mosaic tiles... © Invader

French artist Space Invader, or simply Invader, loves vintage video games so much that he uses their famous characters as motifs — for the mosaic tiles he puts up in the streets. Tiles? …an interesting twist in street art, we dare to say. Especially since he has been physically mapping the world’s cities with his pixelated art for nearly the last ten years or so. But wait! When he starts deconstructing the good old Rubik’s cubes for his artworks… Time for PingMag to talk to Invader!

Written by Aroldo Cardoso Jr.

A collection of his Space Invader characters he put up as tile mosaics in Tokyo’s streets. See his (temporary) map on it here. © Invader

We used to play a lot of video games as kids – Space Invaders by Tomohiro Nishikado included. We bet you did too…

Yes, sure. I remember that when I was a kid in France, there were Space Invaders arcade cabinets in many bars, and I used to play there with my friends. There was also the Atari 2600 home video game system with many games like Space Invaders, Defender, Asteroid or Pac-Man… That is really a part of my memory, and my visual aesthetic.

Expanding the digital playground: Pac-Man characters in Paris. © Invader

And how have you gone from the Space Invaders game to a street art concept?

That is a long story… But the main concept was that I was interested in the link between traditional mosaic tiles and digital pixels. Then, I work around the idea that I give life to digital characters by making them with real tiles. I chose the Space Invaders characters because they totally represent what I started doing: invade the planet!

Fitting in the urban environment: three-dimensional Space Invader character, also in Paris. © Invader

In that regard, what would be the role of video games in our culture?

I think they are an important element of our culture; they illustrate our Digital Age along with the development of computers and the Internet which I see as an important step in human evolution.

Subtle statement: Space Invaders character overlooking an industrial area, Paris. © Invader

True, the Digital Age is shaping us definitely. Your physical Invaders are very well placed in terms of location, visibility, size — and you even have your own scoring system for this. How does it work?

Finding the spots is the difficult part of my job as it takes a lot of time to find good spots in a city. When I put up a new piece, I give it a score from 10 to 50 PTS depending on the specifications of the piece and the difficulty I had in reaching the spot. There are at least one “50 points” in every invaded city.

Game characters that decorate Shibuya right now… © Invader

… and Invader in Harajuku. See his map for more. © Invader

Interesting. However, that must take pretty long to fix tiles on the walls…

It depends on its size and on the spot. It can take from ten minutes to one night long!

What is the best time to put one up, at night…?

I mostly work by night, between 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. is the best time. But there are some spots which are easier to reach by daytime when I wear worker clothes…

Super Mario LOVES beer too! Invader in Paris. © Invader

And the city - how do you choose the cities to be invaded? [See his maps of each city here.]

Usually I am invited to have a show in a city, then I go there to set it up and invade the city. Sometimes I also choose a city because it appears to me as an important or crazy place, like I did in Africa or India, for example. I don’t know any longer what the word ‘holidays’ means!

The idyllic Swiss town of Bern has been invaded by little game characters as well… © Invader

Your largest invasion is set in Paris, a city known for its high-art in academia, in museums and so forth…

I put almost 800 pieces up in Paris — I think I am now really a part of the city.

We’ve seen this guy before somewhere… “RUBIK KUBRICK” from 2006 made entirely of Rubik’s cubes. © Invader

Wow! What about your other project called RubikCubism?

The idea is to use Rubik’s cubes to make art, like a painter would use paint. It is totally unexpected and I love the results. It is not related to the invasion but you find the same idea of the pixels in the two projects.

“RUBIK TARGET,” 2006: who knew the good old Rubik’s cube would be used for art…? © Invader

And as material, you use only original Rubik’s cubes! What else have you used?

I sometimes use paint, ink, stickers or anything I find interesting. But I like to focus on one material to be good at it, and for the moment that are tiles and Rubik’s cubes.

Three-dimensional cubes of cardboard and vinyl in the making: “BIG GALAXIAN” from 2005. © Invader

Finally, what’s your next target?

I never speak about my next invasion target before… it is because of superstition but also because of security measures since my work in the streets is still illegal.
As next exhibitions, I am just having a group show called “INSIDERS, OUTSIDERS & THE MIDDLE” in LA curated by Erik Nakamura from Giant Robot magazine [see the opening party here]. I will also be part of a group show in New York this month and then there will be an exhibition at Lazarides Gallery in London next February. Unfortunately, I don’t have a project in Japan for the moment!

Last but not least, a little replica of a mosaic tile Invader put up in New York: “ALIAS NY_73″ from 2001. © Invader

Too bad! Hope to see your pixel art soon in Japan again. Thanks, Invader!

21 Comments

  1. saw these bad boys on my trip to japan.
    fresh street art!

    Posted by: roku on September 1st, 2008 at 8:19 pm

  2. [...] Jed . Excerpt: French artist Space Invader, or simply Invader, loves vintage video games so much that he uses their famous characters as motifs — for the mosaic tiles he puts up in the streets. Tiles? …an interesting twist in street art, … [...]

    Posted by: space » Blog Archive » Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile on September 1st, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  3. [...] Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile Tags: Interview, SpaceInvaders, Streetart [...]

    Posted by: Interview mit Streetartist Space Invader | Nerdcore on September 1st, 2008 at 10:01 pm

  4. [...] Link (via) [...]

    Posted by: THE ARCADES» Blogarchiv » Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile on September 1st, 2008 at 10:07 pm

  5. [...] Thought this might be an interesting read. From Ping Magazine: Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile [...]

    Posted by: cahoots blog :: Article on Space Invader on September 1st, 2008 at 11:25 pm

  6. there is one in NAKAMEGURO by the crossing just outside the station……

    Super nice pics…..

    Posted by: NANA on September 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 am

  7. toujours heureux de croiser des “invaders” partout dans le monde.
    thank you very much monsieur invader
    . .
    =I=

    Posted by: kyno on September 2nd, 2008 at 12:43 am

  8. [...] Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile Das ist auch dufte: [...]

    Posted by: Interview mit Streetartist Space Invader | Ubernerd on September 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 am

  9. I saw some in Harajuku! I remember Boingboing.net featured Invader’s art a while ago; glad to see that more people are noticing his fantastic work.

    Posted by: Jane on September 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 am

  10. Big thanks for this interview. I am enjoying the Space Invaders for several years now and are also a little proud to have two of them in my direct neighborhood… =)

    Posted by: Digital Tools on September 2nd, 2008 at 7:52 am

  11. [...] From PingMag: [...]

    Posted by: PlayOldGames » Invaders, Possibly from France! on September 2nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm

  12. I have one of the invaders on my building in one of Melbourne’s laneways. I watched him put it up.

    Posted by: lindsay on September 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 pm

  13. [...] Overal ter wereld kom je op gevels Space Invaders-mozaïekjes tegen. Allemaal het werk van één man. “Als ik een nieuw werk ophang, geef ik die een score van 10 tot 50 punten, afhankelijk van hoe complex hij is en hoe moeilijk het was om de plek te bereiken. In iedere invaded stad is er minstens één vijftigpunter.” De Franse kunstenaar die hiervoor verantwoordelijk is, blijkt zich ook gestort te hebben op de bekende puzzelkubus van Rubik. Lees het interview op PingMag. [...]

    Posted by: Bashers » Blog » Interview met Invader, pixelkunstenaar on September 2nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm

  14. There’s loads in London. I actually thought it started there.

    Posted by: luke on September 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm

  15. [...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Space Invader:… (tags: videogames toread streetart retro interview geek design art) [...]

    Posted by: links for 2008-09-04 | Funny Web Pages on September 5th, 2008 at 9:32 am

  16. wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka…

    Posted by: mexist on September 6th, 2008 at 2:52 am

  17. See these all the time in London, nice to know where they came from!

    Posted by: Badger on September 6th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

  18. [...] II: Artists in their… I don’t know any longer what the word ‘holidays’ means! — Invader September 6th, 2008 / 0 Comments / [...]

    Posted by: now » I don’t know any longer what the word ‘holidays’ means! on September 7th, 2008 at 2:24 am

  19. WOOOOOOOW so amazing Onderfuul long live to the 8 bits!!!!!! CHec this out 8 bit art in colombia south america here´s the link: http://animanga-yume.blogspot.com/2008/07/camellando-al-pixel.html

    Posted by: ANDRES FELIPE T on September 16th, 2008 at 9:13 am

  20. [...] Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile. Publicado el 16/9/08 a las 15:20. Etiquetado con arte, ljubljana, space invaders. «Why is [...]

    Posted by: aikijuanma, La invasión de Ljubljana on September 16th, 2008 at 10:36 pm

  21. [...] video of an Invader installation here and an interview here. I have a really big weakness for mysterious street [...]

    Posted by: PARIS : SPACE INVADER at make something on June 15th, 2009 at 3:31 pm

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