Outdoor art of summer: London, New York, Paris, Miami, Doha, Hong Kong

Wherever you're traveling (or traveling through) this summer, there may be a stunning work of public art somewhere nearby. Here, we choose highlights in six international cities, from London's Mastaba to a newly installed spiral slide in Miami.

London

You have your pick of vibrant public art in the English capital, but one work looms above all others this summer. On Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, Christo's towering Mastaba stands 20 meters high and is made up of more than 7,000 brightly colored barrels arranged in a pyramid shape. Just try to miss it.

New York

Here's another city where public art is plentiful. Our top pick of the summer is Yinka Shonibare's 23-foot-tall batik sculpture, a work in his "Wind Sculpture" series that resembles a batik sail rising high above Doris C. Freedman Plaza.

Paris

Whether you're visiting the City of Light or making the most of a layover at CDG, consider checking out Paris's Parc de La Villette, where American artist Will Ryman has contributed a three-part installation of colored, large-scale artworks across several sites; they include a series of sulfur-yellow sculptures at Place de la Fontaine aux Lions and a labyrinth of resin slabs titled "Pac-Lab."

Miami

German artist Carsten Höller is known for his installations involving enormous, spiraling slides. Earlier this year, one of his latest endeavors, the nine-story "Aventura Slide Tower," opened at the luxury Aventura Mall near Miami. In addition to offering a wild ride, it is one of many highly Instagram-friendly sculptures now on display at the mall.

Doha

Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed is well-known for his series of public artworks bearing the phrase "Everything is Going to be Alright," versions of which have appeared in Edinburgh, Times Square, Vancouver and Christchurch. Creed has created a new version of the LED work in Doha, where it lights up the façade of Al Riwaq gallery.

On the façade of the Fire Station, political "ARToonist" Ghada Al Khater offers her Arabic answer to Creed's iconic work.

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Museum of Art is currently exhibiting several works of public art at Art Square, including Kevin Fung's "Million Lights," a sculpture juxtaposing neon signs, construction cranes and old tenement buildings with monumental tree trunks. Also on display is a mini, wall-less maze by Fung and a sweeping work by Stanley Siu capturing the silhouette of the famed Chinese junks.