Strange Finds (8 Photos)

By Vidar
Two photographs: Jon Foreman arranges a ribbon of loose stones over rocks on a beach, beside Adventis’s portrait of a woman holding a flower on a building with peeling plaster.

Eight strange finds from the street to the shoreline

A nightclub fits inside a hole in a Sydney wall. In Finland, a crowd of grass-headed figures fills a field. The rest runs from a painted doorstep to a building balanced on an old city wall.


A miniature nightclub entrance glows purple and red inside a hole in a stone wall, with a round M sign above it.

🪩 Nightclub — By Michael Pederson in Petersham, Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺

Purple light leaks from a gap in the stonework, with a tiny round sign above the entrance. Pederson’s miniature nightclub makes a damaged wall look like somewhere you might need to know the password.

More: Take a closer look at Pederson’s Nightclub

🔗 Follow Michael Pederson on Instagram


Rows of figures with grass heads and colorful clothes stand in a field beside a forest in Suomussalmi, Finland.

🌾 The Silent People — By Reijo Kela in Suomussalmi, Finland 🇫🇮

A field beside Highway 5 is filled with clothed figures whose heads are clumps of grass. Reijo Kela first created The Silent People for a 1988 performance; the figures have stood at this location since 1994.

💡 Installation Fact: The figures are repaired and given new outfits twice a year, using donated clothes.

📷 Photo and cover crop: /kallu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).


Pale stones arranged in graduated rows form a nearly closed ring on wet sand at Poppit Sands, with the sea behind them.

🌊 “Direct” — By Jon Foreman at Poppit Sands, Wales 🇬🇧

Smooth stones form a nearly closed ring across the wet sand at Poppit Sands. Their size changes along the curve, giving Foreman’s “Direct” a sense of movement without anything actually moving.

More: Explore more land art by Jon Foreman

🔗 Follow Jon Foreman on Instagram


A tall building in Bratislava is painted as a framed still life with flowers, a small bird, and a green geometric backdrop.

💐 Still Life with Flowers and Bird — By Rascals in Bratislava, Slovakia 🇸🇰

A tall Bratislava facade becomes a framed still life, complete with flowers, a small bird and a green patterned backdrop. Even the frame is painted; the building is the canvas.

More: See more walls bloom with flowers

🔗 Follow Rascals on Instagram


The timber-framed upper story of the Eschif de Creyssac projects over a narrow stone wall, supported by wooden braces.

🪵 Eschif de Creyssac — Périgueux, France 🇫🇷

The timber-framed upper story projects far beyond its narrow stone base, held by a row of wooden braces. This is the Eschif de Creyssac, a real medieval building on Périgueux’s old city wall.

💡 History Fact: Although it is also called the “Old Mill” or “Chapter Mill,” the Eschif never served as a mill.

More: 6 Real Buildings That Look Impossible


A child looks down at PEJAC’s painted WELCOME doormat, made from tiny human figures spreading across an Aberdeen doorstep.

👋 “WELCOME” — By PEJAC in Aberdeen, Scotland 🇬🇧

The doormat at this Aberdeen doorway is painted from a crowd of tiny human figures. In WELCOME, tiny figures form the doormat and spill out over its edges.

💡 Project Fact: Colossal reports that PEJAC chose a building housing charities and vulnerable residents, giving the word “welcome” a practical setting.

More: See PEJAC’s WELCOME up close

🔗 Follow PEJAC on Instagram


A portrait of a woman holding a blue iris covers the weathered front of a building near El Torcal, Spain.

🪻 Portrait with an Iris — By Adventis near Antequera, Spain 🇪🇸

Peeling plaster stays visible through this portrait of a woman holding a blue iris. Adventis uses the worn wall near El Torcal as part of the painting, so the face seems to belong to the building’s surface.

More: This Art Will Make You Calm

🔗 Follow Adventis on Instagram


Jon Foreman kneels behind a straight ribbon of smooth stones aligned across large beach boulders toward the sea at Druidston.

🧵 “Stone Ribbon” — By Jon Foreman at Druidston, Wales 🇬🇧

A narrow band of smooth stones crosses the gaps and slopes of a much rougher beach. For Stone Ribbon, Foreman lined them up toward the sea, turning scattered boulders into one continuous route.

More: Jon Foreman Uses Nature Like This

🔗 Follow Jon Foreman on Instagram

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