In a work of large-scale urban camouflage, French street artist JR has made the iconic glass pyramid standing outside the Musée du Louvre disappear. At least, it seems to disappear, when viewed from one very particular angle, thanks to a massive wrapping printed with a photograph of the museum’s facade. Known for paste-ups on a monumental scale as well as digital projections on architecture, JR transforms the 11,000-square-foot pyramid by I.M. Pei, which became a Paris landmark after its installation in 1989.

The illusion convincingly stands in for the entrance to the Louvre palace, despite being rendered in black and white, and matches up perfectly with the facade. Before the Pyramid became publicly accepted as an integral part of the Louvre, it was controversial, with some critics arguing that the clash of architectural styles was an affront to what the museum itself represents. In camouflaging it, JR takes us back to the days before it was built, leaving us with the distinct feeling that something is missing. The display will be in place through June 27th, 2016.

“Making the Pyramid disappear is a way for me to distance myself from my subject,” says JR. “The feud between traditional and modern tastes in art and architecture is nothing new. The Pyramid, Buren’s columns at the Palais-Royal, and the Pompidou Center – all of these caused controversy. My work is about transmitting history to better understand the present, and find echoes with our own times. What happened in the past is part of a broader context that can still have relevance for today.”

“By erasing the Louvre Pyramid, I am highlighting the way Pei made the Louvre relevant for his time, while bringing the Louvre back to its original state. The Pyramid is one of the most photographed French monuments. I am redirecting its energy, because people are going to have to move around it. They are going to look for the best angle to get the full impact of the anamorphic image, and really make the Pyramid disappear.”

Eighty-two feet under the surface of the earth, hidden within the cellars of the Maison Ackerman winery in Saumur, France, an eerie blue-violet wonderland blooms in carefully constructed arrangements of UV-coated string. Artist Julien Salaud wound 28 miles of cotton thread around 65,000 nails for his installation Fleuve Céleste, which explores themes of nature, mysticism and shamanism against the natural rock walls of the space.

At first glance, the images seem as if they were created on a computer. But anyone who takes a tour of the winery can walk within tunnels of the glowing string, illuminated by a projected ultraviolet light.

According to Salaud, the work offers “a different viewpoint of what an animal can be: that of the Cartesian or the geneticist, of the predator or the prey, of the sorcerer or the mystic.” Conceived specifically for this unusual space, the work will be on display for three years and is the first exhibition originating from the Ackerman + Fontrevaud La Scéne residency.

Two-dimensional shapes seem to hover weightlessly in space like a projection, but step slightly to your right or left and the whole image falls apart, becoming a chaotic assemblage of lines painted onto various surfaces in a room. Swiss painter Felice Varini has been transforming public spaces with his single-vantage-point illusions since 1978, and now he’s brought them to the Grande halle de la Villette in Paris’ Parc de lab Villette.

Varian invites us to look at the spaces around us in a new way, taking a closer look at the physicality of the world we have constructed around us through his somewhat disorienting optical illusions.

The spaces themselves are Varian’s true media, more so than the paint. Even when certain shapes and motifs are repeated, the result is different every time. “My work evolves in relation to spaces that I am in contact with,” he says.

The installations will be up through September 13th, 2015, and guided tours are available.

How is it even possible that a mess of steel wires or a pile of useless scraps of trash can produce shadows that so perfectly mimic human faces and figures? Whether bringing forth unexpected shapes by combining abstract sculptures with a light source or exploring the psychological connotations of shadows, artists make light and darkness a physical element in each of these works.

Amazing Illusions by Kumi Yamashita

Faces appear out of the most unlikely shapes and materials, from scrunched fabric to numbers mounted on a wall, while figures spring out of thin strips of metal. Says artist Kumi Yamashita, “I sculpt using light and shadow. I construct single or multiple objects and place them in relation to a single light source. The complete artwork is therefore comprised of both the material (the solid objects) and the immaterial (the light or shadow.)”

Steel Wire Shadow Art by Larry Kagan

Though they do have a certain beauty in and of themselves, look at Larry Kagan’s wire sculptures on their own, without a light source, and you may find yourself scratching your head at what the word ‘art’ even means. But when they’re illuminated from just the right angle, they transform into something different altogether, becoming birds, insects, ladders and maps of the world.

Plasticine Body Cast Shadow by Rook Floro

Artist Rook Floro made a plasticine cast of his body to create this eerie shadow sculpture, which he displayed in a gallery while sitting nearby with his entire body painted black. “My sculpture/performance piece is inspired by Carl Jung’s psychological theory about the shadow. It concerns with the repressed ideas, weakness, and desires of oneself that the conscious mind refuses to acknowledge. It represents my ‘shadow’ which involves my hidden desires to be different and become perfect in y own right. We always feel the pressure to be perfect by everything around us such as the media, social network, advertisement, friends, and family.”

Interactive Shadow Picture Book by Megumi Kajiwara and Tathuhiko Nijima

This adorable Japanese children’s book by Megumi Kajiwara and Tathuhiko Nijima is enhanced with the use of a flashlight to bring out extra figures via pop-up silhouettes. The book is hand-made to order.

Dancing Shadow Sculptures by Laurent Craste

Two static sculptures suddenly start to dance as a light source swings maniacally around them in this interactive art installation by Lauren Craste, created for the Chromatic festival in Montreal. It seems straightforward at first, but then the figures seem to take on a life of their own, moving in ways that don’t make sense. The secret is a hidden projector that tracks the movements of the light source to create certain effects.

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Drawing With Darkness 24 Incredible Works Of Shadow Art

Translucent jellyfish put on a serene display in the window of a derelict shop, ghostly images of long-dead patients seem to haunt a disused hospital and surreal oversized spider webs appear in the basement of an old factory in these 15 eerie installations bringing art and design to abandoned places.

Glowing Jellyfish Aquarium in an Abandoned Building

A glowing blue tank full of eerily floating jellyfish is probably one of the last things you’d ever expect to see in an abandoned shop window. Artists Walter Hugo and Zoniel built this striking aquarium as part of the Liverpool Biennial, inserting it behind the shutter of the derelict building. The installation, entitled “The Physical Possibility of Inspiring Imagination in the Mind of Someone Living” was not promoted in any way so people could come across it on their own and experience the wonder of such a discovery.

Ghostly Portraits in Ellis Island’s Abandoned Immigrant Hospital

The ghostly images of the very same nurses, doctors and patients who once roamed the halls of Ellis Island’s immigrant hospital remain in the building like a psychic imprint thanks to an installation by French street artist JR, who installed paste-ups of archival photographs. The hospital treated 1.2 million immigrant patients between 1901 and 1954, when it was abandoned, and has since been re-opened to the public. The exhibit is entitled ‘Unframed – Ellis Island’ and will remain in the building as it continues to decay (photographs by Allison Meier of Hyperallergic.)

Eerie Installations in Abandoned Churches by Herbert Baglione

Painted shadows floating around in an abandoned mental hospital in Italy aren’t the only evocative and subtle works that Herbert Baglione has completed in derelict places. The Brazilian artist also brought his signature figures to a 16th century church in Celles-sur-Belle, France. Says Baglione, “The ‘reading’ of these places allows me to take the shadow to a unique path, which usually feeds and broadens the discussion because it brings light to the abandoned environment, and so I put the name of this series as ‘The path that the soul takes.’ The idea for the name came from a conversation I had with my brother ‘William Baglione’ about the places to do these installations. It is as if the soul is leaving an invisible trail on these places.”

Trampolines Suspended in an Abandoned Mine

An abandoned Welsh slate quarry twice the size of St. Paul’s Cathedral is now home to a rainbow-hued installation of nets as part of Bounce Below, the world’s largest underground trampoline. The new tourist attraction features three gigantic trampolines ascending to 180 feet above the floor of the cavern, with ten-foot net walls keeping anyone from bouncing right out.

Stop-Motion Time Lapse in an Abandoned House

Abandoned houses served as some of the unsettling locations that make up the backdrop for ‘Circle of an Abstract Ritual,‘ a stop-motion time-lapse by artist Jeff Frost. The film was created using time-lapse photography – no special effects or graphics were added.

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Art In Abandoned Places 15 Unexpected Urban Installations