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Currently, there is an exhibition in London featuring Damien Hirst, Shephard Fairey and Invader called Triple Trouble. This created a perfect excuse to visit London for a few days, find all of the currently active mosaics - and Invasion number 21. The most recent invasion, completed just 6 days ago.
For those of you who don't know, I created the /invaders channel on Farcaster. I created this channel about 2 years ago after discovering the street artist Invader and becoming slightly more than slightly obsessed with his installations around the world. From this channel, I created a mini app called Flashcastr which hooks into Flash Invaders and shares out the mosaics you flash onto your social feed. You can see this on my feed, as nowadays I rarely use Farcaster for anything other than sharing information about Space Invader and his work.
One of the benefits of this app is that I can chronologically see the flashes, and the order in which I found them. This makes it easy to share my route through the city, for others to learn from and copy. It took me 3 days to find all of the mosaics. Over these 3 days I used many London modes of transport - walking, Santander Cycles, a black cab, a London Bus, the Tube, the overground, and even an uber at the end.
Usually, I use pnote maps to find the latest locations. However, the 21st wave was not on there so this time I used a combination of Map Invaders, pnote and manually finding the new ones on Instagram and adding them to Google Maps. I'll attempt to document our route below, by sharing key flashes from day one through the day three.
If you wish to follow this route, it ends at the Newport Street Gallery where the Triple Trouble exhibition, and the final mosaic, are located. A great way to end the London hunt, enjoy a coffee, and see some incredible and unique art! The exhibition ties in beautifully to the ambitions of each artist. Of course, for me, the highlight is Invader and the exhibition really is a great homage to Invaders mission with his mosaics, with great narrative and story telling, and pieces to enjoy. Loved it. Go visit!
So, the route. I started in West London, all the way up near Kensal Green. It took about 40 minutes to get all the way up here from central London, and I walked all the way down to Portobello Road, then onward to Kensington Gardens, through Hyde Park and into Mayfair - while flashing about 15 mosaics. Great start. I also find the London mosaics so interesting and fun to find! Great hiding spots, especially on this side of town.
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
After making it through Hyde Park, I stopped for some lunch in Mayfair and then begun to plan my route around Mayfair and central London - another hotspot, with about 33 active mosaics as of my hunt. Now, the London weather was definitely against me here, and if you've ever been in central London on a rainy windy day you will know exactly what I mean. At one point, it got so bad, and the wind so terrible on Wardour street that I had to take a cab just three blocks, just because I couldn't even walk down the street without getting blown about and drenched in rain! But, a London black cab added to the London hunt - how great. Plus a massive 33 mosaics flashed, and when the weather was totally unsupportive. Awesome.
The route taken here is from Kensington Gardens, through Hyde Park down to the Royal Albert Hall. London bus from Royal Albert Hall through to Green Park, Green Park up to Grosvenor Square, stopped in Marylebone for lunch & to get dry by a fire in a pub, then up to Baker Street, down into Goodge street, down into Soho, stopped again for a coffee and to get dry, then across to Tottenham Court Road, down into Covent Garden. Then stopped again in Seven Dials to get warm and dry in the food court there. Then across Waterloo Bridge and into Southwark to flash the new mosaics installed there - including one huge Clockwork Orange piece underneath Waterloo Bridge. Truly awesome. Also picked up the Triple Trouble mosaic installed this summer, before the show at Newport Street Gallery - a personal favourite of mine. Side note: the 21st wave of London Invasion - absolutely incredible mosaics. I also love how a lot of these mosaics are installed next to book stores, so a lot of time was spent popping in and picking up a book, and having a sit and read.
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
So, day 1 wrapped up, with an incredible 41 mosaics discovered mostly by foot and definitely in a total London storm. On to day 2.
Day 2 was a beautiful London day, one of those days where the sun is shining, the streets are totally dried up and there is no evidence that just 12 hours ago there was total washout rain! On this day, we started the hunt in east London - Islington. This is the day we hired Santander Cycles on a 24 hour pass for just 7 pounds. This was by far the best way to find the mosaics in London. Definitely recommend. The route this day involved finding 47 mosaics. We started in Islington, made our way to Old Street, then across to Shoreditch where we stopped in Hoxton for breakfast. Then, from Hoxton we cycled to Holborn and found the final ones there before heading south of the river and cycling around the Borough, then down to Elephant and Castle, before looping around back up through Lambeth and back into the city. This route allowed us to pick up all mosaics here, and see the north side of London in a totally unique way. I've never seen the houses of Parliament from that angle! We also cycled through some really old parts of the city. I've spent quite a lot of time in London, considering I am in the tender parts of my early 30s, and I was taken to places I'd never been before. Charm and love for London reignited!
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
That evening, we rented a car and drove to the awkward mosaics dotted in outer Hackney and Walthamstow. Probably not the most efficient way, but we were tired and they were so far out...
We left a great route for day three. On the final day, just six mosaics remained. Two on the Kings Road in Chelsea, one in Piccadilly, one in Camden Town, one in Brixton and one in Lambeth at the Newport Street Gallery. Game on.
We started the day with an uber to Battersea Bridge. From here we walked to get the first mosaic, Vivienne Westwood. Then we walked along the Kings Road to find the second mosaic. From here, we hired Santander Cycles and cycled into Piccadilly - including a very hairy route across Hyde Park Corner - and into the city. Then, we hopped on the tube and took the Victoria line to Brixton, then on to the Northern Line up to Camden Town. From Camden Town, we hired Santander Cycles again and rode through Regents Park, down through Marylebone where we dropped the bikes, hopped on the tube and took the Bakerloo Line to Lambeth North, where we walked the short distance to the Triple Trouble show which marked the end of our hunt!
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
Hopefully this blog post is useful for you if you are visiting London. I think so far, the UK installations are my favourite to find. A lot of them are installed totally at street level and are totally untouched and appreciated, blending in perfectly with the cities. Hopefully you have the same appreciation for these if / when you go find them.
Currently, there is an exhibition in London featuring Damien Hirst, Shephard Fairey and Invader called Triple Trouble. This created a perfect excuse to visit London for a few days, find all of the currently active mosaics - and Invasion number 21. The most recent invasion, completed just 6 days ago.
For those of you who don't know, I created the /invaders channel on Farcaster. I created this channel about 2 years ago after discovering the street artist Invader and becoming slightly more than slightly obsessed with his installations around the world. From this channel, I created a mini app called Flashcastr which hooks into Flash Invaders and shares out the mosaics you flash onto your social feed. You can see this on my feed, as nowadays I rarely use Farcaster for anything other than sharing information about Space Invader and his work.
One of the benefits of this app is that I can chronologically see the flashes, and the order in which I found them. This makes it easy to share my route through the city, for others to learn from and copy. It took me 3 days to find all of the mosaics. Over these 3 days I used many London modes of transport - walking, Santander Cycles, a black cab, a London Bus, the Tube, the overground, and even an uber at the end.
Usually, I use pnote maps to find the latest locations. However, the 21st wave was not on there so this time I used a combination of Map Invaders, pnote and manually finding the new ones on Instagram and adding them to Google Maps. I'll attempt to document our route below, by sharing key flashes from day one through the day three.
If you wish to follow this route, it ends at the Newport Street Gallery where the Triple Trouble exhibition, and the final mosaic, are located. A great way to end the London hunt, enjoy a coffee, and see some incredible and unique art! The exhibition ties in beautifully to the ambitions of each artist. Of course, for me, the highlight is Invader and the exhibition really is a great homage to Invaders mission with his mosaics, with great narrative and story telling, and pieces to enjoy. Loved it. Go visit!
So, the route. I started in West London, all the way up near Kensal Green. It took about 40 minutes to get all the way up here from central London, and I walked all the way down to Portobello Road, then onward to Kensington Gardens, through Hyde Park and into Mayfair - while flashing about 15 mosaics. Great start. I also find the London mosaics so interesting and fun to find! Great hiding spots, especially on this side of town.
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
After making it through Hyde Park, I stopped for some lunch in Mayfair and then begun to plan my route around Mayfair and central London - another hotspot, with about 33 active mosaics as of my hunt. Now, the London weather was definitely against me here, and if you've ever been in central London on a rainy windy day you will know exactly what I mean. At one point, it got so bad, and the wind so terrible on Wardour street that I had to take a cab just three blocks, just because I couldn't even walk down the street without getting blown about and drenched in rain! But, a London black cab added to the London hunt - how great. Plus a massive 33 mosaics flashed, and when the weather was totally unsupportive. Awesome.
The route taken here is from Kensington Gardens, through Hyde Park down to the Royal Albert Hall. London bus from Royal Albert Hall through to Green Park, Green Park up to Grosvenor Square, stopped in Marylebone for lunch & to get dry by a fire in a pub, then up to Baker Street, down into Goodge street, down into Soho, stopped again for a coffee and to get dry, then across to Tottenham Court Road, down into Covent Garden. Then stopped again in Seven Dials to get warm and dry in the food court there. Then across Waterloo Bridge and into Southwark to flash the new mosaics installed there - including one huge Clockwork Orange piece underneath Waterloo Bridge. Truly awesome. Also picked up the Triple Trouble mosaic installed this summer, before the show at Newport Street Gallery - a personal favourite of mine. Side note: the 21st wave of London Invasion - absolutely incredible mosaics. I also love how a lot of these mosaics are installed next to book stores, so a lot of time was spent popping in and picking up a book, and having a sit and read.
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
So, day 1 wrapped up, with an incredible 41 mosaics discovered mostly by foot and definitely in a total London storm. On to day 2.
Day 2 was a beautiful London day, one of those days where the sun is shining, the streets are totally dried up and there is no evidence that just 12 hours ago there was total washout rain! On this day, we started the hunt in east London - Islington. This is the day we hired Santander Cycles on a 24 hour pass for just 7 pounds. This was by far the best way to find the mosaics in London. Definitely recommend. The route this day involved finding 47 mosaics. We started in Islington, made our way to Old Street, then across to Shoreditch where we stopped in Hoxton for breakfast. Then, from Hoxton we cycled to Holborn and found the final ones there before heading south of the river and cycling around the Borough, then down to Elephant and Castle, before looping around back up through Lambeth and back into the city. This route allowed us to pick up all mosaics here, and see the north side of London in a totally unique way. I've never seen the houses of Parliament from that angle! We also cycled through some really old parts of the city. I've spent quite a lot of time in London, considering I am in the tender parts of my early 30s, and I was taken to places I'd never been before. Charm and love for London reignited!
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
That evening, we rented a car and drove to the awkward mosaics dotted in outer Hackney and Walthamstow. Probably not the most efficient way, but we were tired and they were so far out...
We left a great route for day three. On the final day, just six mosaics remained. Two on the Kings Road in Chelsea, one in Piccadilly, one in Camden Town, one in Brixton and one in Lambeth at the Newport Street Gallery. Game on.
We started the day with an uber to Battersea Bridge. From here we walked to get the first mosaic, Vivienne Westwood. Then we walked along the Kings Road to find the second mosaic. From here, we hired Santander Cycles and cycled into Piccadilly - including a very hairy route across Hyde Park Corner - and into the city. Then, we hopped on the tube and took the Victoria line to Brixton, then on to the Northern Line up to Camden Town. From Camden Town, we hired Santander Cycles again and rode through Regents Park, down through Marylebone where we dropped the bikes, hopped on the tube and took the Bakerloo Line to Lambeth North, where we walked the short distance to the Triple Trouble show which marked the end of our hunt!
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
London, WORLDY - Flash from London by WORLDY
Hopefully this blog post is useful for you if you are visiting London. I think so far, the UK installations are my favourite to find. A lot of them are installed totally at street level and are totally untouched and appreciated, blending in perfectly with the cities. Hopefully you have the same appreciation for these if / when you go find them.
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I did a little write up of my recent London mosaic hunt and my route through the city. Great time. Working on a couple others for Manchester and Newcastle! https://paragraph.com/@henrypye/london-invader-hunting?referrer=0x38E27a59d3cffB945aC8d41b7c398618354c08F6