27/03/2026
Mosaic Invaders all over the World.
When we went to Biarritz, I noticed by the side of the name of some streets that they were some Space Invader pictures in mosaic (See photos below). So I decided to find out more about it.
Searching on the internet I discovered that they were created by a man called Franck Slama who was born in 1969 and graduated from the famous” Ecole des Beaux-Arts” in Paris.
The Space Invader video games were initially his inspiration for the creations, he played the game when he was growing up in the 1970s and 80s. His mission was audacious and he began his artistic “invasion” in 1996 directly to the streets where anyone could encounter it unexpectedly by using tiles to represent the pixels in the games' 8-bit graphics. He began making Space Invader mosaics in Paris in the 1990s and went on to install mosaics in 31 other cities in France.
Here is the link with most of the location in Paris: https://www.space-invaders.com/world/paris/
He then created other cartoon characters like Mario and the Smurfs.
Invader has since staged "invasions" in cities and countries worldwide, including seven in New York City and three in Hong Kong. Paris remains a primary location for the artist's work; in June 2011, Invader marked the installation of his 1,000th work in Paris. Since 2000, he has also installed more than 70 pieces of work around Hong Kong. As of January 2020, Invader had created mosaics in 79 cities, with 3,858 Space Invaders comprising over 1.5 million ceramic tiles, and had published 24 "invasion maps."
Earth was not enough, in August 20th 2012 an Invader Mosaic was launched into space making the first ever street art piece aboard the International Space Station.
So when you visit a city or a town look up on the streets and see if you discover any of his art.
There is a street app that you can download and it is call: Mapvaders: Invaders Tracker.
Start searching and have fun.