I Didn’t Expect That (11 Photos vol. 3)

October 13, 2026

By Vidar

Public sculptures with a punchline

A harbor breakwater in The Hague hid a Rubik’s Cube, and a Cold War bunker in Prague turned into R2-D2. In Moscow, a set of garbage bins grew teeth and claws and lost most of them within a day. And in Conques, a stone face carved about 900 years ago still peers over a church portal.

More: 14 Photos Funny Sculptures With a Clever Twist

♻️ “This Waste Is Not a Toy” — By Andrej Josifovski in Bečej, Serbia 🇷🇸

A LEGO-style figure eight meters tall, built on a steel frame and wrapped in cardboard, stood guard over the landfill in Bečej. Architect Andrej Josifovski Pijanista made it to call out Serbia’s illegal dumps, and later versions went up at landfills in Dolovo and near Inđija.

💡 Award Fact: The project, “Eko čikica – ovaj otpad nije igračka,” won the research and experiment category at the 45th Architecture Salon. More than 35 people helped build it.

More: This Waste Is Not a Toy by Andrej Josifovski

🐕 Rain-Boot Dog — La Manufacture, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France 🇫🇷

A few green rubber boots make one small dog, parked by a glass storefront. It’s one of the boot dogs the local tourism office calls traffic signs for La Manufacture, a creative hub for about 20 makers at the end of Impasse de l’Hôtel de Palerme, off Rue de la République.

More: 15 Times Cities Forgot to Be Serious

🧩 Rubik’s Cube Breakwater Block — Scheveningen, The Hague, Netherlands 🇳🇱

Roel Wijnants photographed this sea-worn Rubik’s Cube on a Scheveningen harbor breakwater in August 2013, one painted block among plain concrete ones. It’s the only block in the pile anyone would try to pick up.

More: Eroded Rubik’s Cube in the Netherlands

🐱 “Maui” Cat Can — By My Dog Sighs

My Dog Sighs painted a tabby’s face across a crushed can, and the dents give it a squashed little body to go with the big green eyes. This one is a commissioned portrait of a cat named Maui.

💡 Can Fact: Faces painted on discarded tin cans are a My Dog Sighs signature, and for ten years he gave his art away on the street as part of his Free Art Friday project.

More: Eyes That Speak: My Dog Sighs

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🐿️ “Climate Climax” — By FALCO in Cachan, France 🇫🇷

FALCO worked the fire hydrant at the foot of the wall into the stencil: its hose runs up to a squirrel aiming a long blue jet over a row of dark pines. He shared it from Cachan, just south of Paris, under the title “Climate Climax.”

More: Spreading Peace in Roubaix, France

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🎼 Conductor’s Hand Parking Barriers — Estonian National Opera, Tallinn, Estonia 🇪🇪

At the parking entrance of the Estonian National Opera, each barrier arm was a conductor’s baton held by a sculpted hand, so every car got its own downbeat. The opera’s general manager, Aivar Mäe, came up with the musical barriers.

🤖 R2-D2 Bunker Vent — Folimanka Park, Prague, Czechia 🇨🇿

Anonymous artists painted the ventilation shaft of a buried Cold War bunker in Folimanka Park as R2-D2 and added a concrete piece on each side of the dome. It was never city-sanctioned, but in October 2017 Prague 2 said it would not remove the robot.

💡 Bunker Fact: The shelter underneath was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s and could hold 1,300 civilians.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsR2-D2 bunker ventUnnamed street artists · 2017 · Folimanka park, Prague 2Civil-defence shelter ventTwo concrete legs addedRestored by 2022 (Expats.cz)1Prague 2’s mayor said the town hall would not remove it: it does not support illegal spraying but likes the decoration of the unsightly shaft.ČTK via archiweb2According to Expats.cz, the paint and legs wore away over five years, then the vent was restored and the concrete legs replaced.Expats.cz201724 OctČTK: town hall lets it stay201725 OctPrague Review visit photos201829 AprCommons photo20224 SepExpats.cz: restored20238 MayCommons photo202426 MayCommons photoRead the full file →

More: Transforming a Nuclear Shelter: The Rise of R2-D2 Graffiti

🐨 “Half-Half Coala” — By Bordalo II in Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹

Half of the koala is painted to look like soft gray fur, and the other half shows exactly what it’s made of: plastic, scrap and other trash. It went up in Xabregas, Lisbon, replacing Bordalo II’s earlier Plastic Frog on the same wall.

💡 Series Fact: In Bordalo II’s Half-Half series, each animal is split between a natural-looking side and a plastic side, a contrast his site ties to the waste that destroys animal habitats.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsHalf-Half CoalaBordalo II · 2026 · Xabregas, LisbonHalf-Half seriesReplaced the 2017 frogRevealed 14 Aug 20261It replaced Bordalo II’s Plastic Frog on the same Xabregas wall, his first piece in the Plastic Trash Animals series.GraffitiStreet2It stands on Rua da Manutenção, a few metres from the artist’s former studio on Rua de Xabregas.NiT202614 AugArtist’s announcement202615 AugNiT: revealed 14 Aug202618 AugGraffitiStreet reportRead the full file →

More: Bordalo II Builds Animals From Trash (30 Photos)

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👀 The Curieux — Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques, France 🇫🇷

Above the Last Judgment portal of Sainte-Foy in Conques, one of the curieux (curious ones) peeks over the molding, eyes just clearing the stone and fingers hooked over the edge like a kid at a fence. These figures sit over the tympanum arch, and the tympanum itself dates from the first half of the 12th century.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsThe curieux12th century · Sainte-Foy, ConquesFourteen figuresOver the tympanum archCarved stone1Wikipedia calls the curieux forerunners of the Kilroy cartoon, figures who peek over the edges of the tympanum.Wikipedia2The tympanum below them shelters at least 124 figures on a field 6.70 m wide and 3.60 m high, the tourist office says.Conques tourist office201012 MarCommons photo: Les Curieux20111 NovCommons close-up20258 JunCommons photo of the portalRead the full file →

More: Medieval Humor at the Abbey of Sainte Foy, Conques

🧱 Tiny Man Lifting a LEGO-Style Brick — By Slinkachu

A man no taller than a fingertip hoists a red LEGO-style brick over his head on a ledge above a busy road, while a kid in red watches. It’s from Slinkachu’s Little People project, which has been leaving tiny figures on city streets since 2006.

More: Little People by Slinkachu (Part 2 of 4)

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🗑️ “PREDATOR” — By Nikita Golubev in Moscow, Russia 🇷🇺

Golubev turned a row of trash containers in Moscow’s Tyoply Stan district into one monster: yellow eyes on the lids, a red mouth full of teeth and blue claws on the open doors. When he came back the next day, most of it had been torn off and only the eyes were left.

More: Dirt Made Into Art (10 Photos)

🔗 Follow Nikita Golubev on Instagram