6 Outdoor Art Installations To Visit Before Summer Is Over

Andy Goldsworthy’s permanent Golden Gate Park installation, Wood Line, honors the space that cypress trees historically occupied in the park. Utilizing reclaimed tree trunks laid end-to-end in a notable zig zag, Goldsworthy traces a tactile path through the valley of the Tennessee Hollow Watershed, encouraging visitors to venture into the park while giving them a glimpse at another era in the park’s history.

Slide Hill on Governor’s Island opened this summer, offering a “natural haven of play” for all ages. The installation has been in the works for years and boasts the longest slide in New York City, measuring 57-feet and three stories tall. (Plus, the views of New York City from the top of the other hills are not to be missed.)

Just South of Las Vegas, Ugo Rondinone has installed Seven Magic Mountains, an ode to the geographic formation known as hoodoos. The 35-foot high sculptures are painted in bright neon colors, exploring the meeting point of nature and artifice while creating an otherworldly effect in the midst of the Mojave’s already alien environment.

From the minds at Ensamble Studio, Beartooth Portal creates a link between art and nature, in Tippet Rise Montana, just in view of the Beartooth Mountains. The installation explores how we co-exist with nature by using natural materials (like earth and rocks); the installation will eventually degrade back into the original habitat.

Part environmental remediation, part art installation, Owens Lake Project acts both to mitigate dust pollution in the area and to restore the native ecosystem ravaged by Los Angeles’s demand for water. Today, native populations of flora and fauna are growing, and the land art project’s plaza (whose design is influenced by the area and its Native American tribes) offers an ideal viewpoint to take in the sights.

Located throughout the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., Washed Ashore uses recycled materials to build bright, larger-than-life sculptures of marine wildlife, drawing attention to the natural spaces that are being polluted and educating visitors on the global issue of plastic pollution. The exhibit has a few other locations that will be moving around the country, so check to see when it’s coming to your area!