Finding Hidden Art in Paris

Recently, while in Paris for the Huawei P30 Pro launch, I had the chance to explore the city and seek out an almost hidden form of art that had been placed everywhere, unbeknownst to many visitors.

A friend had mentioned seeing tile mosaics all over Paris while there on a recent visit. I was driving from the airport into Paris when I spotted my first ‘FlashInvader’ high on a building that we drove past.

I quickly launched the free FlashInvader app on my phone (available for both iOS and Android) and ‘flashed’ it using the app.

The idea behind the ‘game’ is that you are ‘shooting’ the various pixelated artworks (created by the artist known as Invader) inspired by the retro video game, Space Invaders. The difference is, that you are using your smartphone’s camera to capture these and are awarded points for each successful capture. It is really a fun thing to keep an eye out for while wandering the streets of Paris…or many other cities too.

The invaders aren’t always above the street signs either. Sometimes you can only see them from certain angles, like on this bridge.

I only managed to find seven invaders during my time in Paris although I’m pretty sure I found one that it didn’t recognize correctly due to lighting and I also discovered one that I totally missed but was captured in a low light shot I took of a cafe at night. See if you can spot the mosaic here: