FLOAT 100 · Art · No. 81
Invasion Kit #16 (FlashInvader)
The masked French artist who has cemented pixel aliens onto walls from Paris to the International Space Station turned the icon of his street-hunting game into 80 ceramic tiles in a foil pack, a do-it-yourself mosaic that collectors prize most when it has never been opened.
- Year
- 2014
- Maker
- Invader
- By price in art
- 75 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Artist
- Invader (French, born 1969)
- Also titled
- Invasion Kit #16 (Flashinvaders); Invasion Kit #16 'Flash Invader'
- Date
- 2014
- Medium
- Multiple of 80 ceramic tiles in sealed foil (anti-static) packaging, with an installation instruction page
- Size
- 19 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in) when assembled
- Edition
- 250, signed and numbered
- Publisher
- The artist, sold through his Space Shop
- Subject
- The icon of FlashInvaders, Invader's smartphone game, launched in 2014
A street mosaic in a bag
An Invasion Kit is Invader's answer to fans who want one of his mosaics without prying one off a wall. In his own words, it is a ready-to-use limited edition of a Space Invader, produced in his studio, sold in his Space Shop, and at the same time a conceptual and a functional object. The tiles are the same kind of ceramic he cements onto buildings.
Invasion Kit #16 was issued in 2014 in an edition of 250. It contains 80 ceramic tiles which, laid out, form a mosaic 19 x 24 cm. Its design is the icon of FlashInvaders, the smartphone app Invader released the same year, which is why it is known as the Flashinvader or Flashinvaders kit.
The tiles come in sealed foil packaging, with an installation instruction page. On the copies described by auction catalogs, the artist signed and dated that page in orange felt-tip pen and numbered it out of 250 in black ballpoint.
The Unidentified Free Artist
Invader is a French artist born in 1969 who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He calls himself a UFA, an Unidentified Free Artist, and always appears behind a mask, so that he can visit his own exhibitions without being recognized.
Since 1998 he has run a project code-named Space Invaders. It began when he decided to give pixelation a physical form in ceramic tile, freeing the aliens of the arcade game from the TV screen. He scouts densely populated cities, installs 20 to 50 pieces in each, and gives every piece a score of 10 to 100 points; each city's score is the sum of its mosaics.
By January 2020 he had installed 3,858 Space Invaders made of more than 1.5 million tiles, in 79 cities in 20 countries. One mosaic, Space2, has been on the International Space Station since 2015. He has also made art from Rubik's Cubes, published invasion maps and directed films.
2014: the street becomes a game
In 2014 Invader launched FlashInvaders, a free app for iOS and Android that he describes as a reality game. Players spot one of his street mosaics, 'flash' it with their phone camera, fill a gallery and score points, the same scoring logic the artist had long applied to his own invasions.
The app made a scavenger hunt of the whole project. When this page was written, its live counter showed 590,132 players and 50,057,170 flashes. Invasion Kit #16 turned the app's icon back into the tile mosaics it was built to find.
The kit appeared in a turbulent year: Russia annexed Crimea in March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished the same month, and Germany won the World Cup in Brazil in July.
On the market
Copy 29 of 250 has been offered twice in Britain: first in a London editions sale with an estimate of £6,000 to £8,000, and later in an online sale where it sold for £4,902 against an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000. Another copy was offered with the same £6,000 to £8,000 estimate.
Copy 107 of 250 was offered at auction in the U.S. In October 2026 a U.K. urban art dealer listed a copy, still in its unopened packaging and signed and numbered on the packaging, at £7,450, and a U.S. online marketplace listed one at $17,500.
How to identify one
A complete kit has 80 tiles in their original foil or anti-static packaging and the instruction page. The signature and number appear on the instruction page or, on some copies, on the packaging itself; one cataloger describes the copies as signed on the back and numbered.
Catalogs consistently stress the original, unopened packaging, so a kit that has been assembled and mounted is a different proposition from a sealed one.
The artist's own site warns that many of his street pieces have been ripped off walls and faked with new tiles for resale. The kit is the authorized way to own a tile mosaic of his design, and its numbering out of 250 is part of what makes that possible to check.
The numbers
- Medium
- 80 ceramic tiles in sealed packaging, with instruction page
- Dimensions
- 19 x 24 x 0.3 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 1/8 in)
- Edition size
- 250
- Signature
- Signed and dated in orange felt-tip, numbered in black ballpoint, on the instruction page
- Publisher
- The artist (Space Shop)
- Catalogue raisonné
- None stated
Timeline
Invader is born.
Invader begins the Space Invaders project, installing tile mosaics in Paris.
Invader places a mosaic on the letter D of the Hollywood Sign.
Invader begins making Rubikcubism works from Rubik's Cubes.
Invader launches the FlashInvaders app and issues Invasion Kit #16, based on its icon, in an edition of 250.
Invader's Space2 mosaic is installed on the International Space Station.
The count reaches 3,858 Space Invaders in 79 cities in 20 countries.
A U.S. online marketplace lists a copy at $17,500.
The world in 2014
The Winter Olympics open in Sochi, Russia.
Ukraine's parliament votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappears with 239 people on board.
Russia formally annexes Crimea.
About 276 girls and women are abducted from a school in Chibok, Nigeria.
The Islamic State declares itself a caliphate.
Germany beats Argentina to win the World Cup in Brazil.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 aboard.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 29, 2026 | $6,762 | Sold at auctionIn an online auction run from London: GBP 4,902 (including buyer's premium), shown in USD at the Federal Reserve rate on the sale date (1 GBP = 1.3795 USD). |
| Oct 4, 2026 | $9,871 | Asking price, not a saleA UK urban art dealer: GBP 7,450 (asking price), shown in USD at the Federal Reserve rate on the sale date (1 GBP = 1.3250 USD). |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Invasion Kit #16 (FlashInvader) is number 75 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (81 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Invader says he can visit his own exhibitions unrecognized because he always appears behind a mask.
- One of his mosaics has been aboard the International Space Station since 2015.
- The FlashInvaders app counted more than 50 million flashes when this page was written.
- Invader scores his own work: every mosaic he installs earns 10 to 100 points.
- The same copy of the kit, number 29, has been offered at auction in Britain at least twice.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026