In Space Invaders: Boundaries, Arlo Sinclair transforms the classic 1978 arcade game into a tongue-in-cheek commentary on intrusion, defense, and the anxieties of contested space. The work depicts a large-scale 3.5” floppy disk, fabricated in acrylic and aluminium, with a distressed paper label that rebrands the game as the “Serious boundary issues edition!” A pixelated alien, painted in vivid blocky orange, hovers beneath the bold retro typography, embodying both playful nostalgia and metaphorical threat.

Sinclair’s meticulous recreation of wear—torn edges, scuffed corners, faded type—imbues the object with a sense of fragile permanence. The floppy disk, once a vessel of cutting-edge technology, becomes here an absurd monument to obsolescence, its surface re-scripted with cultural satire. By reframing Space Invaders through the language of borders and boundaries, Sinclair draws attention to the way games often encode deeper social narratives: the constant fear of incursion, the struggle for control, the binary logic of “us versus them.”

The choice of medium—sculptural fabrication with hand-painted surfaces—bridges the line between object and image, artifact and artwork. As with the wider 2024–2025 cycle, Sinclair mines the ruins of technological history to create works that parody and preserve at once, turning disposable consumer culture into enduring commentary.

Space Invaders: Boundaries resonates as both playful homage and cultural critique. It asks us to consider what lies behind the simple mechanics of early gaming—what fears and desires shaped them—and how those echoes persist today in politics, technology, and social life. Sinclair’s floppy disk, fossilized in paint and material, becomes a relic not just of gaming, but of the boundaries we continue to defend, cross, and redraw.