World Heritage Centre Wadden Sea

The Wadden Sea Experience takes you on a journey through the UNESCO World Heritage Wadden Sea. You learn interactively about ebb and flow, how both nature and people have shaped this unique area and why it is so important to protect the Wadden Sea. YIPP developed five different interactive experiences in this unique location where living animals, nature and museum exhibits come together.

The Ever Changing Landscape Table

To us, it feels like the Wadden Sea has a fixed shape, but if each year is one frame of a film, we see a landscape as changeable as the weather! And it is strikingly clear how human interventions have shaped the landscape. With some 20 touchpoints spread across an interactive table with relief and projection, icons show different subjects. Activate them with a hand movement and the area grows, animating to the relevant time period. For programmes accompanied by a museum guide, an interactive mode was developed where the animation can be paused or a topic selected by the museum guide.

Seal language

Seals are one of the few animal species that, like humans, have the ability to shape their voice over the course of their lives. They find their voice through imitation. In a fun game, visitors can experience this for themselves. In this interactive, you are instructed to imitate the seal sound. Using machine learning, the software recognises whether you are making the right sound. Through visual feedback and a score, you get feedback on your seal sound and can try to improve.

Wadden research

Try your hand as a seal doctor. Place a petri dish under the microscope. Zooming in will magnify the bacteria or virus, zooming out will tell you more about the story behind it. How does a seal get infected and how can it be treated? In the so-called moon installation, it is possible to visualise the water levels of the Wadden region by dragging the moon around the Earth.

The end of your visit brings you to the future. Make choices about the future of the mudflats in the Future Theatre by moving yourself into space. The effect of your choices on the mudflats are instantly visible in a large wall projection.


Would you like to know more about this project or do you need help with a similar project? Get in touch with Wouter van der Zouwe (wouter.vanderzouwe@yipp.nl).