Invader, a flâneur in a real and imaginary space
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13129/2281-8138/2026.0.109-131Abstract
In the realm of contemporary urban art, the work of French artist Invader holds a unique position. Known for his pixelated mosaics inspired by the video game “Space Invaders,” his artworks are dispersed across the globe, often in unexpected locations. This sociological study aims to analyze the impact of Invader’s art on public space, imagination, and cultural nostalgia. How does this “invasion” art redefine the way we interact with our urban and digital environments? By employing sociological theories on symbolic interaction of virtual and real space of, this research explores the social significance of this art form within a globalized contextReferences
Agamben G (2009). What is an Apparatus? And Other Essays. trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella. Standford University Press.
Anderson I., Borg K., Ohlsson S. (2007), Playground Sweden, Årsta: Dokument Förlag.
Aoyama Y., Izushi H. (2003), “Hardware gimmick or cultural innovation? Technological, cultural, and social foundations of the Japanese video game industry”, Research Policy, 32(3), 423–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(02)00016-1
Barros M. (2021), “Fantasy Video Games and Archetypal Criticism”, Academia Letters
Baudelaire C. (1885), Le peintre de la vie moderne, Éditions Mille et une nuit, 2010 : 64
Benjamin W (1927, 1940, 2002), The Arcades Project, Havard University Press paperback edition.
Benjamin W. (1968a). Theses on the philosophy of history (H. Zohn, Trans.). In H. Arendt (Ed.), Illuminations (pp. 253–264). Schocken Books.
Benjamin W. (1968b). Illuminations (H. Zohn, Trans.). Schocken Books.
Blanco-Fernández V., Moreno J. A. (2023), “Video Games Were My First Safe Space”: Queer Gaming in the Animal Crossing New Horizons LGBTIQA+ Community”, Games and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231205638
Boukercha K. (2021), Sur nos murs : 40 ans de graffiti avec Agnès B. : [exposition, Paris, La Fab, 24 septembre-18 décembre 2021], Éditions Textuel.
Bourdieu P. (1998), Les règles de l’art : genèse et structure du champ littéraire (Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée), Paris : Éditions du Seuil.
Boy J. D., Uitermark J. (2017). “Reassembling the city through Instagram”, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(4), 612–624.
Cabrera Y., Diago L. (2023), “The Unveiled City: Multicultural Representation of Tokyo by Hashtag Labeling on Instagram”, Leonardo (Oxford), 56(5), 509–516. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02426
Chang T. C. (2018), “Writing on the Wall: Street Art in Graffiti-Free Singapore.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43 (6): 1046–1063.
Cheung W.-Y., Wildschut T., Sedikides, C., Hepper, E. G., Arndt, J., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2013). “Back to the Future: Nostalgia Increases Optimism”, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(11), 1484-1496. https://doi-org.ezpupv.scdi-montpellier.fr/10.1177/0146167213499187.
Conty A. (2013). THEY HAVE EYES THAT THEY MIGHT NOT SEE: WALTER BENJAMIN’S AURA AND THE OPTICAL UNCONSCIOUS. Literature & Theology, 27(4), 472–486. https://doi.org/10.1093/litthe/frt035.
Cross K. A. (2012), “The New Laboratory of Dreams: Role-playing Games as Resistance”, Women’s Studies Quarterly, 40(3/4), 72.
Daskalaki M., Mould O. (2013), ‘Beyond Urban Subcultures: Urban Subversions as Rhizomatic Social Formations’. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 1: 2.
David H. (2006), Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographic Development. London: Verso.
Davies, D. (2017), “Walls of Freedom: Street Art and Structural Violence in the Global City”, Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v9n2.02
Davies J. (2010). “Sustainable nostalgia”, Memory Studies, 3(3), 262–268. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698010364819
De Groot J. (2009), Consuming history: historians and heritage in contemporary popular culture, Routledge.
Debord G. (1967). La société du spectacle (Nouvelle édition). Paris : Gallimard, 2018.
De Certeau M. (1984). The practice of everyday life (S. Rendall, Trans.). University of California Press.
Di Luggo A., Zerlenga O. (2020), Street Art: Drawing on the walls, Disegnare Con, 24: 2
Durand G. (1992), Les structures anthropologiques de l’imaginaire. Paris : Armand Colin. [ed. orig. 1969, Bordas, Paris].
Emanuela L. (2020). Shadow Street Art: from walls to streets between projection and invention, Disegnare Con, 13(24), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.24.2020.14
Gandolfi E., Gandolfi S. (2021), “Playing across the social zone – Animal Crossing, gaming communities and connectedness in a time of crisis”, Academicus International Scientific Journal, XII(23), 41–51. https://doi.org/10.7336/academicus.2021.23.03
Goffman E. (1973), La mise en scène de la vie quotidienne. 1. La présentation de soi, Les Paris : Éditions de Minuit.
Gonçalves K., Milani T. M. (2022), “Street art/art in the street - semiotics, politics, economy”, Social Semiotics, 32(4), https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2022.2114724
Grassi V. (2013), “Interpretations of Food in French Sociology of Imaginary”, Italian Sociological Review, 3(3), 193-201. https://doi.org/10.13136/ISR.V3I3.70
Hamilton K., Edwards S., Hammill F., Wagner B., Wilson J. (2014), Nostalgia in the twenty-first century INTRODUCTION, Consumption. 17, 10.1080/10253866.2013.776303.
Hansen M. B. (2008). Benjamin’s Aura. Critical Inquiry, 34(2), 336–375. https://doi.org/10.1086/529060
Henckel D., Könecke B., Thomaier S. (2013), “INTERMEZZO: Time Intervention in Public Spaces – The Artist Mark Formanek”, Space–Time Design of the Public City, Springer Netherlands, 13: 189.
Hirschman E, C. (1983), “Aesthetic, Ideologies, and the Limits of the Marketing Concept”, Journal of Marketing, 47 (Summer).
Isenberg N. (2001). The Work of Walter Benjamin in the Age of Information. New German Critique, 83, 119–150. https://doi.org/10.2307/827791
Jung C. (1928) “On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetic Art”, Contributions to Analytical Psychology, London: K.Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. ltd.; New York, Harcourt, Brace and company, 225-249.
Kleiner J. (1977). “On nostalgia. In Socarides C. W. (Ed.)”, The world of emotions, New York: International University Press, 472.
Kohler C. (2004), Power-up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life, Illustrated, Brady Games.
Kunkel B. (1982), “Inside Gaming”, Electronic Games, 2: 35–45.
Lacoste J. (2003). L’aura et la rupture : Walter Benjamin. Maurice Nadeau.
Lefebvre H. (1968), Le Droit à la ville, Paris : Anthropos.
Lefebvre H., Hess R. (1974), La production de l’espace (4e édition), Paris : Anthropos.
Lennon J. (2014), ‘Assembling a Revolution: Graffiti, Cairo and the Arab Spring’, Cultural Studies Review, 1: 241.
MacDowall L., de Souza P. (2018). ““I’d double tap that!!”: Street art, graffiti, and Instagram research”, Media, Culture & Society, 40(1), 3–22.
McQuire S. (2008), The media city: Media, architecture and urban space. SAGE. Crossref.
Merrick H. (2009), The Secret Feminist Cabal, Seattle: Aqueduct Press.
Mora A. M., Tonda A., Fernández-Ares A. J., García-Sánchez P. (2022), “Looking for archetypes: Applying game data mining to hearthstone decks”, Entertainment Computing, 43, 100498-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2022.100498
Papiu G. A., Suciu N. (2017), “Arts and technology - Mosaic new techniques and procedures”, IOP Conference Series. Materials Science and Engineering, 200(1), 12049. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/200/1/012049
Polanyi M. (1958), Personal Knowledge, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Polson E. (2024), “From the Tag to the #Hashtag: Street Art, Instagram, and Gentrification”, Accessed, Space and Culture, 27(1): 79–93.
Reyburn S. (2021), “Banksy’s Shredding Artwork Is Auctioned for $25.4 Million at Sotheby’s”, Media, Culture & Society, 40(1), 3–22. Accessed, 5
Ricardo C., Zaimakis Y., Pavoni A. (2021), Political Graffiti in Critical Times: The Aesthetics of Street Politics. New York: Berghahn.
Romero R. (2018), “Bittersweet Ambivalence: Austin’s Street Artists Speak of Gentrification”, Journal of Cultural Geography, 35 (1): 1–22.
Salmose N. (2018). “A past that has never been present: The Literary Experience of Childhood and Nostalgia”, Text Matters 8(8), 332–351. https://doi.org/10.1515/texmat-2018-0020
Sedikides C., Wildschut T., Arndt J., Routledge C. (2008), “Nostalgia: Past, present, and future”, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 304-307.
Sedikides C., Wildschut T., Baden D. (2004), “Nostalgia: Conceptual issues and existential functions”, In Greenberg J., Koole S., Pyszczynski T. (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology, New York, NY: Guilford, 200-214.
Sheff D., EddyA . (1999), Game Over: Press Start to Continue. New York: Vintage Book, 133-134.
Somaini A. (2016). Walter Benjamin’s Media Theory: The “Medium” and the “Apparat.” Grey Room, 62(62), 6–41. https://doi.org/10.1162/GREY_a_00188
Visconti L. M., Sherry Jr, J. F., Borghini S., & Anderson, L. (2010), “Street Art, Sweet Art? Reclaiming the “Public” in Public Place”, The Journal of Consumer Research, 37(3), 511–529. https://doi.org/10.1086/652731
Whittaker J. (2004), “The Cyberspace Handbook”, Routledge, 129: 15-30.
Young S. (2020). Your Digital Alter Ego - The Superhero/Villain You (Never) Wanted Transcending Space and Time? Computers and Composition, 55, 102543-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2020.102543
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).