Looking at this picture, it seems pretty obvious that something is seriously wrong with the floor… right? And yet, as we should all know by now, things aren’t always as they seem, no matter how hard our brains try to reconcile the fact that a flat surface can look so believably sunken on one side. It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around the fact that the effect is achieved simply by warping the shape of the tiles as they’re applied to the floor.

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A post shared by Casa Ceramica Tile Company (@casaceramicatiles)

Casa Ceramica Tile Company created the illusion for the entrance to their own showroom in Manchester, UK. People must have had a hard time believing that the tiles are really flat from initial photos posted to Instagram and Twitter, because the company posted subsequent photos and videos of the installation process, saying “Like our entrance floor made from tiles #sorrynotsorry.”

They are actual tiles pic.twitter.com/7HvTqz9jHP

— Casa Ceramica (@casaceramica) September 22, 2017

Apparently, the illusion only works from one direction, and when visitors are exiting the building, it looks like a normal tile walkway.

Here’s how to navigate our floor! #tiles #Manchester #Lovetiles #Illusion #Aliceinwonderland #CharlieAndthechocolatefactory pic.twitter.com/fn8kV2Wcz9

— Casa Ceramica (@casaceramica) September 22, 2017

Unsurprisingly, the illusion blew up on Twitter and became something of an internet sensation. You might dig through the company’s website or Instagram hoping for more optical illusions, but it looks like most of their work is pretty standard. Maybe this project will get them some fun commissions.

Makeup artist Mimi Choy slices, disjoints, stretches, blurs and otherwise radically transforms her own face in stunningly realistic optical illusions using nothing but makeup. No templates, prosthetics or Photoshop go into the creation of her surreal photos – she freehand them all, often using standard cosmetics from brands like MakeupForever and Kryolan theater makeup. The Vancouver, Canada-based artist shows off her trippy looks on Instagram alongside her more standard everyday makeup looks.

Mostly using herself as a canvas for her optical illusions, Mimi says, “To be honest, I never thought anybody would be interested in following my bizarre late-night creations a few years ago because it wasn’t ‘on trend.’ But I continued because illusion art is challenging and I like having to push limits each time. Later on, I realized it’s not about creating looks that are ‘popular’ or would guarantee likes/follows, it’s about creating our own trend and breaking barriers.”

Mimi says she rarely even has a specific plan in mind when she starts painting – she just goes for it, and allows the result to come about spontaneously. Check out her Instagram @mimles for lots more wild and intricate makeup creations.

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin purchased a sprawling abandoned bowling alley in Santa Fe, New Mexico so an art collective called Meow Wolf could transform it into a bizarre and colorful immersive environment called The House of Eternal Return. Step inside to find 20,000 square feet of trippy black-lit spaces you can literally get lost within, crawling into a fireplace to find an expansive new space full of surreal wonders like neon forests, alien plants and twenty-foot rabbits.

Unlike most art installations, it’s made to be experienced physically, with strange new sights around every corner waiting for you to touch, climb, squeeze and swing your way through all of their secrets. The result of a collaboration between over 100 artists, the House of Eternal Return is a “wild new form of non-linear storytelling which unfolds through exploration, discovery and 21st century interactivity. The premise: Something has happened inside a mysterious Victorian house that has dissolved the nature of time and space. Venture through the house of the Selig family, and discover secret passageways into fantastic dimensions!”

There are no guides, maps or pathways, and you could have a different experience in the space no matter how many times you explore it. At the center of the massive facility is a full-sized Victorian house where everything’s a little bit off: floors ripple, lights come streaming out of drains, refrigerators lead to secret tunnels and even the toilets contain unexpected surprises. You may enter through the front door, but you don’t leave that way. In fact, it’s hard to tell whether you’ll ever leave.

A team of six writers created the story elements, taking cues from the objects the various participating artists produced for the installation. In addition to this art exhibit turned fantasy world, there’s a jungle gym, a children’s museum and a music venue hosting such acts as CocoRosie and Mykki Blanco. Martin has granted Meow Wolf with a ten-year lease to do whatever they want with the space, so there’s plenty of time to plan a road trip to check it out. In the meantime, check out all the photos on Meow World’s Instagram.

You might feel like you’re dreaming or even drunk when you wander into these bizarre, surrealist interiors, from a bar that looks like the inside of an alien to a hotel room modeled after TRON. Going beyond mere concepts, these are real, existing spaces with interior design so surreal, avant garde or otherwise unexpected, it’s disorienting.

Conversation Pieces by HEAD Design

The entire room can be a conversation piece, as proven by this unique interior design series by students at ‘HEAD,’ the Geneva University of Art and Design. The designers created an entire apartment with dreamlike rooms including a bedroom that feels like a cloudy white womb, a library entrance that never seems to end, and a dining room that wouldn’t be out of place on the set of the latest Star Trek movie.

H.R. Giger Bar, Switzerland

Few spaces are more surreal than the H.R. Giger Bar in Gruyéres, Switzerland, which takes its cues from the artist’s work. The skeletal motif found within, with giant vertebrae arches, makes it feel like you’re inside some monstrous creature.

HITGallery Hong Kong

The paintings of artist Giorgio de Chirico inspired this surreal black, white and blue shop interior in Hong Kong. Symmetry, a restrained color palette and the scale of the humanoid shelves that take up the center of the store make it feel like stepping into a work of art.

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Disorienting Design 14 Trippy Surreal Interior Spaces