Space invading: Expanded spatial practices

Abstract

It is a gift to write this article as an opening piece to a twentieth anniversary Special Issue for the book Space Invaders (2004), with twenty pieces in the collection, initiated with generosity by Jo Littler and Anamik Saha, two of the co-editors of the European Journal of Cultural Studies, following a conference on Re-Visiting Space Invaders in 2022. The article offers an expanded spatial practice, with space invaders as a mode of analysis as well as space invading as a methodological research process. The discussion locates space invading as a verb, as a practice of co-existence, as well as an innovative intervention in different contexts; drawing on a large body of creative, critical, collaborative projects. In this piece I (1) return to a key research scene, Westminster, London in the contemporary political context; (2) reflect on how the remit of the book has been extended internationally, building towards an expanded methodological spatial practice of space invaders; and (3) I close by introducing how this collection on Re-Visiting Space Invaders extends issues and questions far beyond the original scope of the book.