Few art experiences short of virtual reality are quite as immersive as entering a tunnel, literally surrounding yourself with an artist’s vision, blocking out nearly all sensory input not related to the installation. You’re temporarily transported to a dimension that’s not quite real, often unsure where the tunnel might take you. These 15 tunnel-based art installations offer explorable landscapes, inviting you to walk or even crawl through structures made of light, yarn, tape, salvaged wood and textiles.

LED Light Installation in Wellington by Angus Muir

A permanent LED light installation inside a Wellington tram tunnel forms a shimmering, shifting series of arches that blink and change colors. The Wellington Car Cable Company commissioned artist Angus Muir to create the kaleidoscopic landscape of light,

The Pixels Crossing in Paris by Miguel Chevalier

French artist Miguel Chevalier created a temporary tunnel connecting the Forum des Halles and the Place Carée in Paris, with shimmering, multicolored scenes moving in synch with a wave pattern of sound, giving commuters an otherworldly experience as they walked along the transit route.

‘Terminus’ Ribbon Tunnel in Georgia by Megan Mosholder

Placed in the grass outside Atlanta’s Hambidge Center of Creative Arts and Sciences, ‘Terminus’ by Megan Mosholder offers a visual representation of the city’s potential if only they solved their transportation problems. The installation consists of ribbons strung along a frame, and light projected onto them to resemble a blurred train passing through a station at night.

‘Tunel’ by Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti

Any visitor stepping inside this interactive kinetic sculpture by Brazilian artistic duo Cantoni-Crescenti watched the architecture of the tunnel shift and transform in response to their own body weight and movement. 92 metal frames are individually controlled by a series of springs and cables, linked in a chain, so that your weight might cause the floor to incline or a section of the walls to rotate toward you.

Tube in Tirol by Numen/For Use

Crawl around in a series of net tubes suspended high up off a gallery floor at this installation by Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use. ‘Tube’ is a maze of rope tunnels that mostly lead to dead ends, snaking up through an atrium and into the second level of Austria’s Architekturforum Tirol gallery.

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Tunnel Visions 15 All Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

If you had a house that was going to be demolished, scrapped and completely replaced with something else – what would you do with it? Well, a couple of guys thought it would be neat to turn this place into the strangest thing the suburbs have ever seen, before the site would be turned into a new arts center.

Passers by are clearly awestruck by this amazing suburban art installation. The tunnel house gives an illusion of vertigo, a sense that it is being sucked in upon itself – a compelling visual effect.

The above shot shows both of the artists (left), who clearly have a sense of humor about the entire project. Amazingly enough, people can even interact with this piece, walking through the middle and coming out the other side!

The tunnel tapers through the center of house, becoming a crawlspace that ‘drains out the other side. A surreal experience to be sure, and probably the most typical house would could choose to turn into an amazing piece of suburban installation art! For more or for full-sized images, try searching Flickr with the tag ‘Tunnel House!’