INVASION
The work “INVASION” references the aesthetics of classic 8‑bit video games from the early digital era. In a uniform grid, iconic alien figures from the game *Space Invaders* form a geometric block, a homage to the beginnings of pop culture in the digital realm. The monotone arrangement contrasts with the implied movement of the original. Nostalgia meets formal reduction. A play on memory, order, and cultural code. “INVASION” is part of the art series “Blue in a Square”, which includes 300+ artworks.
The hunt for high scores.
The video game Space Invader could only be played in cafés, arcades, billiard halls and similar places. A game cost 1 Deutschmark. At the beginning, the machine devoured 1 DM coins like nothing. But over time, practice came into play – and as we all know, practice makes perfect here, too. Eventually you figured out the tricks and secrets of this game as well. With Space Invader, it worked like this: in the final level, you had to shoot away rows 3 to 5 all the way to the top. Then you could wait until the aliens came all the way down. Because once they were at the very bottom, they strangely stopped shooting. You moved back and forth between rows 3 and 5 the whole time until then and just waited. Then you moved all the way to the back on the right, let the aliens come, and could simply shoot them down. Since they no longer fired themselves, nothing could happen to you. And the game started all over again.
From that point on, it was only about leaving the high score on the machine with your initials. To do that, you had to get yourself shot as close as possible to 1,000,000 points. Because after 999,999 the counter started again from zero. Hitting exactly 999,999 was very hard – pure luck. But the closer you got, the longer your initials stayed on display. Sounds crazy, but that’s how it was. That’s how we spent our time, among other places, at Eiscafé Venezia. Then Asteroids came out and Space Invader was history. The game started all over again. And so it went on and on.
The artwork “Invasion” is part of the positive memory culture series, because it references an era of my generation – the era of video games you still played on machines. Those were the 80s. The artwork “Invasion” can be ordered via the Art Store, either on its own or as part of a complete art series. So anyone who likes to surround themselves with positive memories will surely find their favourite remembrances of that time among the more than 300 artworks.
Canon Fine-Art inkjet print on premium Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm paper. Artwork size freely selectable: from at least 20 × 20 cm up to 120 × 120 cm. Mounted on 2 mm aluminum Dibond with a white wooden shadow-gap frame. Pricing/quote on request, depending on size and quantity.