An interactive museum installation
Developed by Next Nature, the museum installation invites visitors to explore the themes of PRELIFE through an engaging, interactive experience. Created for the new exhibition at Evoluon in Eindhoven, the installation forms an integral part of the exhibition and will remain open throughout the entire duration of PRELIFE.
The installations were officially launched on 27 February 2026, opening the exhibition to visitors and providing an immersive environment in which to discover, question and reflect on the ideas explored by PRELIFE.
One of the highlights is the Geolift, an immersive installation that virtually transports visitors from the Earth’s surface down to its core. Moving through successive rock layers, visitors learn about their composition, structure, and temperature. The experience makes the planet’s internal dynamics tangible and connects geological processes to the conditions that made life possible.
The Geo Wall presents the ongoing progress of the project within the museum space. The exhibition tells the story of the origins of life on Earth and emphasizes how humans are embedded within, and dependent on, that living system. Through news reports, interviews, and video clips, visitors can follow the project’s development in real time. Researchers from PRELIFE will continue contributing to the Geo Wall in future.
A central feature of the exhibition is the Geosphere Timeline, a cosmic overview tracing key events from the Big Bang to the emergence of life on Earth. While the timeline was developed internally, input from PRELIFE researchers helped refine several scientific details. Particularly regarding the timing of the first galaxies and the formation of the Milky Way, ensuring the narrative aligns with current scientific understanding.
Borehole Park: From Stone to Screen invites visitors to figuratively drill through the Earth’s layers and encounter the materials that shape everyday life, from glass and smartphones to jewelry and construction materials. Through a journey across geological time, these materials tell a story of extraction, depletion, human impact, and responsibility. The installation poses pressing questions: What do we take from the Earth? And what do we give back?
Together, these installations translate complex scientific insights into accessible and immersive experiences, strengthening the dialogue between research, design, and society.