An interactive exhibit where visitors can play with a pile of glowing pellets has been temporarily closed at the Groninger Museum: the pellets are sticking to guests and ending up all over the museum.
Translation by Hans de Preter and Traci White
The Groninger Museum’s latest exhibit is getting plenty of attention, but in a somewhat unexpected way: the Museum has decided to temporarily close a section of the “Presence” exhibit by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, which is filled with tiny luminescent starch pellets, because the art is being inadvertently spread around the museum.
Visitors are encouraged to interact with the glowing green pellets, including diving enthusiastically into a large pile of the tiny works of art. The pellets, which are biodegradable, have been found to stick to visitors who unwittingly leave a trail throughout the rest of the Groninger Museum after leaving the room.
Dagblad van het Noorden reports that the room has been closed since last Friday, and museum director Andreas Blühm hopes to find a solution for the unexpected problem as soon as possible. The room could reopen to the public as early as Tuesday. Blühm says that the pellets do not pose an environmental hazard because they are made of starch, but the art institution is still working on a way for visitors to enjoy the exhibit without bringing any unintentional souvenirs home with them.
Roosegaarde’s innovative approach to light and sensory technology in his art has won him international renown. The “Presence” exhibit consists of multiple rooms where visitors are incorporated into the artwork through light and movement. He was born in 1979 in the town of Nieuwkoop in South Holland. In addition to the Groninger Museum, his unusual works have also been on display on the Afsluitdijk. Other notable installations by Roosengaarde are “Windvogel”, which generated green energy, and “Glowing Nature”, which utilised bioluminescent algae.
“Presence” will be on at the Groninger Museum until January of 2020.
Photo source: Screenshot from Groninger Museum
