Art News & Features

Space Invaders, A Street Art Movement, Not A Video Game

Vee Hua 華婷婷1 min readNovember 11, 2005Add comment

Any fan of video games who doesn’t know what Space Invaders is should be ashamed of himself or herself. But nowadays, it’s more than just a video game. It’s an art movement inspired by the video game.

The idea is nothing new, but the following is large enough to warrant it a mention. The Space Invaders movement involves nothing more than your average street art mentality. With a combination of stickers, signs, spraypaint, and urban landscapes, supporters of Space Invaders spread the image anonymously, and illegally, in any way they can.

First started in France, the invasion has now spread across the world. You can see remnants of Space Invader paraphenelia in Tokyo, Rotterdam, Paris, Istanbul, and Bangkok. It seems the only participants of this movements within the United States are located where you’d most expect them: in Los Angeles and New York.

www.space-invaders.com

Written by

Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Managing Editor of South Seattle Emerald, and Co-Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!, and are pursuing a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.

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