10 Facts About Invader's Invasion Kits

The tiles are accompanied by detailed instructions that, when followed correctly, enable the owner of the kit to produce an alien mosaic. The mosaics resemble those that have propelled Invader onto the international stage and have garnered critical acclaim from art experts and institutions.

Our Junior Broker, Celine, advises sellers who own an Invasion Kit to keep it sealed in its original packaging. “It’s tempting to want to open the kit and display the piece, but it’s not worth it. The second you take it out of the package, it’s devalued.” A sealed and signed Invasion Kit can sell for up to £20,000.

Invader travels all over the world and instals a number of mosaics of aliens from the popular arcade game, Space Invaders, onto the walls of the cities he visits. The artist has travelled to over 30 countries and has even installed a mosaic below sea level, with one being located in the Cancun Bay in Mexico, as well as one in space in the ISS (International Space Station).

Invader aims to install around 20 to 50 mosaics in each city he visits and the artist has developed a sophisticated points system in which each artwork is given a score of 10 to 100 meaning that every city has its own score which is the sum of all the Space Invaders created on its walls.

Invader ranks the cities using these scores to track and calculate which ‘invasions’ have been the most successful. The artist has created maps and guides which contain detailed information regarding the scores of his invasions, as well as the locations of the artworks, so people can track them down and appreciate the ground-breaking scale of this project.

When asked whether it was possible to acquire one of Invader's artworks, Invader replied coyly that the most economical solution was to buy tiles and create a mosaic at home. The artist added, however, that it was possible to purchase an Invasion Kit, as seen in this collection, which Invader refers to as a ‘conceptual and functional object’.

The Invasion Kits collection highlights Invader's desire to demonstrate that art should be for everyone and not just the art world elite. Indeed, by installing his artworks on city walls, Invader shows that art can be for everyone, and should not be confined to museums or galleries.

Since the early 2000s, Invader's art has expanded from its original motif of the Space Invader into new icons inspired by other 8-bit video games. When assembled according to the written instructions by Invader himself, these kits take on the appearance of an alien from the popular arcade game created by Taito in 1978, Space Invaders.

By producing Invasion Kits, like Invasion Kit 6, Invader encourages everyone to become an ‘Unidentified Free Artist’ (as the artist identifies himself) and take to the streets to produce their own alien mosaics. The kits are made at Invader’s studios and sold in his iconic Space Shop.

Selling for a total of € 39,000 at Digard Auction in Paris, one of Invader's invasion kits, IK for MSF, reached a record price on the 22nd June 2020.