Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has opened his first major solo museum show ? an interactive experience meant to awaken its audience to human impact on the environment.
Staged by the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Netherlands, Roosegaarde's Presence exhibition takes the form of a sprawling, 800-metre-square installation of darkened rooms and phosphorescent light.

At every turn, museum visitors are encouraged to touch, move, push and hug objects in the space, and in doing so leave an imprint for those who come after.
Roosegaarde, whose work often focuses on the environment and sustainability, created the exhibition to make visitors aware of the traces they leave behind on their surroundings, and to make them feel empowered to act differently.
"I wanted to create a place where you feel connected," said Roosegaarde. "You make the artwork and the artwork makes you. Presence shows your relationship with the environment and how we can influence it."

Presence opens with a dark room ordered around grid-like markings and large plinths.
A beam of blue light constantly scans the space, like a photocopier, leaving behind a ghostly imprint wherever a visitor blocks the light. Visitors often climb the plinths, so that shadows of bodies lie across them.

The same principle is at work in the next room, which is the most minimal space in Presence and was partly inspired by the work of light artist James Turrell.
The empty room, bathed in alternating blue-green and...