Get immersive with these larger-than-life art installations.
While bigger doesn’t always mean better, art installations that aren’t confined to a room or wall can provide viewers with a different, mesmerizing experience. In this list, you can see creative art installations that aren’t afraid to take up space worldwide. Most of them are permanent installations, but some aren’t guaranteed to be there forever. So if you want to see them in person, start looking up flights!
Sea Change
WHERE: Naples, Florida
Sculptor Patrick Dougherty created an outdoor art exhibit and makeshift shelter with thousands of willow sticks and saplings over three weeks for the Naples Botanical Garden in Florida. The four interconnected circles are made of 30,000 pounds of wood woven together, arching and undulating like a wave in the sea. The immersive experience is stunning and disorienting. This exhibit is intended to stay at the botanical garden until 2023.
Building Bridges
WHERE: Venice, Italy
Six pairs of hands touch over a bridge in the basin of the Arsenale in Venice, Italy. This massive art piece is aptly named Building Bridges. The six pairs of hands represent the six universal values: Friendship, Faith, Help, Love, Hope, and Wisdom. They’re part of artist Lorenzo Quinn’s heartwarming global message of joining hands for unity over division.
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Prada Marfa
WHERE: Marfa, Texas
Fashion and art will be forever intertwined, or at least according to the Berlin-based artists Elmgreen & Dragset. Their creation, Prada Marfa, is an iconic and permanent art installation in the deserts of Valentine, Texas. The store is a replica of a high-end Prada boutique that serves as a critique of modern consumerism. However, it has morphed into a social media backdrop that even Beyonce can’t resist.
Field of Light
WHERE: Uluru, Australia
Field of Light Uluru spans more than three football fields in Uluru, Australia, dotting the landscape with 50,000 colorful and mesmerizing “sprouts” of light. Originally destined to be a temporary installation by artist Bruce Munro, the immersive light exhibition has been so popular that its end date has been indefinitely postponed. The fantasy garden is powered by solar energy and is one of Australia’s largest art installations to date.
Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa
WHERE: Aiya Napa, Cypress
Created by artist Jason deCaires Taylor, the Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (MUSAN) underwater installation is made up of more than 93 different pieces of pH-neutral artwork. Taylor hopes that it will help encourage marine life to thrive in the area once again. There’s a magical essence to MUSAN, with sculptures of children playing by enormous trees, but this is not a static art project. Instead, the underwater art installation can be seen as a partnership between man and nature, changing and morphing over time as nature takes over and puts her own touches on it.
Sonic Bloom
WHERE: London, England
A poignant reminder of how the pandemic has isolated communities, Sonic Bloom by Yuri Suzuki is an interactive, multi-sensory art installation intended to bring back a sense of connectedness with each other and the environment. The bloom’s individual “flower” horns amplify sound, allowing people to communicate with each other by speaking through the flowers while still being six feet apart. The installation will remain open in Brown Hart Gardens until August of 2022.
The Girl Puzzle
WHERE: New York City
A tribute to investigative reporter Nellie Bly, who went undercover to report on an insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island, The Girl Puzzle consists of five bronze faces created by Amanda Matthews. The installation is on Roosevelt Island, formerly known as Blackwell’s Island. It serves as a visual representation of women of different races and ages who have suffered but have overcome their struggles with strength. The Girl Puzzle is named after Bly’s first published article, and the permanent installation is free to the public.
Anton Smit Open Air Exhibition
WHERE: Cape Town, South Africa
Thirty different sculptures make up this expansive exhibition by renowned South African artist Anton Smit in Cape Town. Their larger-than-life quality captures various elements of humanity, as personal details on the bodies evoke movement and raw emotions from each sculpture. The permanent exhibition is free and open to the public.
Toto Forever
WHERE: Namib Desert, Namibia
Have you ever wanted to stand in the deserts of Namibia and listen to “Africa” by Toto on repeat, endlessly? If so, the installation by artist Max Siedentopf is precisely what you need to experience. As the name implies, Toto Forever was designed to last forever. The six speakers and music player were built with sturdy materials and powered by solar batteries. To add to the mystique, Siedentopf hasn’t disclosed the exact location of the installation, only offering a general map of where it’s located.
The Lume
WHERE: Indianapolis, Indiana
The Grande Experiences Van Gogh exhibits have taken the world (and social media) by storm, but one special exhibition is different from the rest. Viewers can rest assured that they can visit The Lume at their own pace, as it’s the only permanent Grande Experiences exhibit in the United States. The immersive experience brings in a multi-sensory element with video, sounds, and smells designed to make Van Gogh’s masterpieces come alive.
Path of Emotions
WHERE: Porquerolles, France
The maze of mirrors titled Path of Emotions is both stunning and disorienting. Created by Jeppe Hein, the installation is a permanent addition to Fondation Carmignac on Porquerolles Island. As viewers navigate through the labyrinth of mirrors, they’re faced with alternative perspectives of the landscape around them. Part of the play on perspectives is the illusion that the landscape moves while the horizon stands still.
Hase
WHERE: Piemont, Italy
Another art installation meant to interact with Mother Nature is Hase, otherwise known as The Pink Bunny. The giant pink stuffed rabbit rests on the hills of Piemont, where it has been slowly decomposing since 2005 (after a five-year process of knitting the bunny). Artist group and Hase creators Gelitin expected the 200-foot-long stuffed animal to completely deteriorate by 2025. Now, very little of the installation remains as nature has taken her toll.
Bataan Chapel
WHERE: Bataan, The Philippines
This art installation by Swedish artist Not Vital, a concrete chapel in the hills of Bataan, blurs the lines of art and architecture. Everything from the chapel’s location—hardly what one would call easily accessible—to the structure’s sharp lines and geometric precision gives the building a sense of sacred isolation. The permanent installation isn’t going anywhere soon, but individual experiences will change with the light at different times of the day.