‘Hello my Game is …’ Invader’s Solo Show, Paris 2017

Invader has invaded the Musée en Herbe with his highly anticipated solo exhibition “Hello My Game Is…”, a play on the famous name tags “Hello My Name is…”.  The show runs from 26th January until 3rd September 2017. We were lucky enough to be invited to the preview of the show so read more if you want to see what this fantastic show has to offer…

On entering Musée en Herbe we were presented with a timeline of arcade video games starting with early history to the golden age of arcade video games. The five playable games displayed chronological were PONG (Atari 1972), BREAKOUT (Atari 1976), GALAXIAN (Namco 1979), PAC-MAN (Namco 1980) and TETRIS (Atari 1984).

The arcade gaming stations were at a height specifically designed for children to play on, an important concept for Invader’s solo show which has been tailor-made especially for children and of course the inner child in all of us!!

“…I know that children are generally appreciative of my work. Maybe because, I have myself often drawn inspiration from the world of childhood. Besides, who other than an adult with a child’s soul could devote his life to invading the world with video game characters?…” Invader 

Opposite the arcade games were five pieces of mosaic art each with the gaming influence, Asteroid, Outlaw, Pac-Man and Super Mario III (micro-mosaic).

The current score ‘3402’ on Pac-Man being the score of invasions Invader has made to date throughout the world in 67 cities… that is a pretty impressive stat!

We follow the Princess that takes us to the next level…. The Invasions!!

The Invader has made it his mission to invade the world with his mosaic creations. They can be found all over the world, including the bottom of the ocean and even in Space! For his solo show the invasions can be tracked using an interactive platform.

Once the interactive button-controlled ‘Space Machine Control System’ is operated it displays the city on the large-scale map, lights up the corresponding alias (a copy of the life-size mosaic installed) and projects the photo of Invader’s street invasion on the huge screen, thus providing you a direct link between the alias in the museum to invasion on the street.

“…This exhibition is an invitation to come and explore my work and play with it…” Invader

The next room you walk into is all about ‘RUBIKCUBISM’, developed by the Invader in Paris in 2005 and characterised by the use of Rubik cubes as his medium. Due to the size and the limited six colour palette of the cubes, Invader is led to create nearly abstract artworks that only reveal themselves with a few step backwards… or when looking at them through a smartphone!

“With the team of the Musée en Herbe, we tried to create an exhibition tailor-made for children, both in the scenography and in the subject of some works such as a very large ‘rubikcubist’ painting of Peter Pan, the child who never wanted to grow up!” Invader

The ‘Rubik invasion of Neverland’ is his largest Rubikcubism artwork to date and is made from 1,320 Rubik’s Cubes.

There is a short film about the retro Rubik cube, also viewed on a childs eye level, teaching them the beginnings of Rubikcubism.

The last room presents works on squared paper, perfect for pixel art drawing…

…and a popular interactive magnetic board where you can build your own invaders.

There were also a series of boxed masks used by Invader during his streets interventions to remain under the radar, which were also displayed in chronological order from 2005 to date.

The final wall provided a rare insight into the artists studio, where many of us spent time inquisitively looking deep into Invaders personal world. Especially if you looked through certain areas of the wall where videos played providing an insight into the creation of this incredible show.

As we exited the show we could purchase stickers from the sticker machines, a 40-page book published by Casterman featuring games and stickers for all to enjoy.

For all Flash Invader fans (15,014 players, 496493 flashes) the most recent mosaic has been placed inside the museum with 50 points to collect …

The solo show was made with children in mind, by the height of the interactive stations, super hero face masks, booklets that turned the show into a place to play, binoculars and some of the artwork subjects, however it also catered for the big kid in all of us and a nostalgic walk down memory lane was most welcomed.

“… there is no age for appreciating art. Even if my main concern is to address children, I hope their parents will also appreciate the exhibition.” Invader

‘Hello my Game is…’ runs from 26th January until 3rd September 2017, curated by OverTheInfluence.  Will you come out to play?

Musée en Herbe

23, rue de l’Arbre-Sec 75001 Paris
Open everyday from 10 to 7 pm
Night time hours on thursday until 9 pm
tel: 0140 67 97 66
www.musee-en-herbe.com

 

Comments

comments

Share your comments