That’s the spirit…

Beck’s 2006 video Black Tambourine- done in ASCII.

What do you get when you mix one week of blogging about Space Invader with one month of reading Tracy Kidder’s 1981 history of mini-computers, “The Soul of a New Machine”…?

A newfound interest in ASCII art.

American Standard Code for Information Exchange (ASCII), pronounced /æski/ is a character encoding based on the English Alphabet (wikipedia).

ASCII art, in the most basic of descriptions, uses text characters (letters, numbers symbols) to create graphics.  The simplest forms of this artwork have become widely recognized:

:)   equals smiley face
:(   equals frown

…. you get the idea.

There is also ANSI art, which is a bit more extensive and incorporates more letters, numbers, symbols, colors, and cursor control sequences.

I completely missed this underground computer art phenomena in it’s hay-day, and didn’t know anything about it until a friend recently gave me a whirlwind web tour of the scene.
What initially struck me was the ingenuity and creativity of the work- ASCII and ANSI art bring a surprising graphic life to otherwise cold and bland computer text.

raaarrrr….

Also, I couldn’t help but notice a few parallels between ASCII/ANSI art and artists and early graffiti artists. Crazy nicknames… crazy group names… the sometimes viral exhibition of these names… getting the work up in surprising locations… and the “underground” element of the scene.

I’m going to continue chugging along with my homework on the subject. Just in case you want to, too- there is an epic documentary about BBS that you can check out on Google video.
And for a special treat look into the Demoscene of the 80’s and 90’s. Crazy stuff!

A couple weeks ago I turned the corner on Houston and Bowery, and wham! I stumbled right into Lazarides Outsiders NY show. What a treat!

Since I’ve been on the topic of Space Invader, here are some shots from the exhibition…

Lazarides - Outsiders NY 2008  exhibition press release pdf

Lazarides - Outsiders Group Show (UK) 2008 exhibition press release pdf

When Space Invader isn’t busy proliferating the streets with his pixelated expansionist alien friends, he keeps busy with indoor activities:

mosaics:

Space Invader Mosaic

aliases: each street Invader has one matching alias Invader cast in resin

Space Invader Alias

rubik cubism: n. an avant-garde movement that appeared in the 21st century and which uses Rubik’s Cubes as an artistic medium.  The French artist know as Space Invader is at the origin of this movement. (from Space Invader Bad Men - Part 1 Exhibition Catalogue)

Rubik Cubism

sculptures:

Space Invader Rubik Sculpture

books:

Space Invader Books

invader maps:

Invasion Kathmandu

limited editions:

Space Invader Limited Editions

stickers…

Binary Code and Invasion Stickers

and shoes…!

Space Invader Shoes

Two videos from Jetset Graffiti on Space Invader:

Nothing says geek street art like Space Invader.

Spotted! Space Invader - Amsterdam

Did some reading up on the original Space Invader game, and found that not only was invasion the theme of the game, but invade was also exactly what it did to the gaming market. Released in 1978, the Space Invader game became so popular so quickly that it actually caused a shortage of Japanese 100-yen coins and warranted the opening of special gaming arcades that only housed Space Invader consoles. In 1980 Atari licensed the game and Space Invader became the first ‘killer app,’ or video game that is so sought after that the user will buy special hardware or software just to play (…the Space Invader game quadrupled sales of the Atari system).

It was at this point that video gaming really came into it’s own as a genre of entertainment and began to compete with media such as music and television. Together, Space Invader and the video game systems achieved their own invasion- in our public spaces, marketplaces, and homes.

Taking the invasion to another level is one of my favorites- French artist Space Invader. Chances are you have already seen his work and know a bit about it. The project that put Invader on the map is his epic and continual creation and installation of the pixelated Space Invader characters in cities around the world. Check out the Around the World section of his site for a list of invaded cities and lots of photos. He builds most of his pieces from tiles and then adheres them onto walls, bridges, signs, etc… For each city he meticulously maps the locations of his pieces, and then scores them for a point value- old school video game style.

Space Invader - Around the World

Space Invader - Points

Space Invader has been in action since the mid ‘90’s and he is an incredibly prolific artist… so more to come on his other projects soon!

Meanwhile- here are a couple links to background info and photos:

Swindle Magazine article by Shepard Fairey, “Space Invader”

Flickr Space Invader Group

Waking up yesterday was good. I rolled our of bed, put on my ‘hot’ jeans, brushed my teeth, and hit the Brooklyn sidewalk with a newfound lightness to my step. It might have been the weight of global embarrassment finally lifted off my shoulders, or that inspiring feeling that maybe the world will actually be a better place for our kids. It also could have been my sweet pair of new sneaks… 10 points, 10 points, 10 points.

Space Invader Sneaks

For Tomorrow's Invasion