Artist Inundates the Netherlands with a 'Virtual Flood'

Wander outside the Dutch town of Westervoort and you might find yourself in a meadow flickering with electric-blue, low-lying fog. Appearing as a weird blend of the aurora borealis and an alien abduction, the gauzy light is actually a new artwork imagining a catastrophic failure of the Netherlands' famed dike system.

"Waterlicht" or "Waterlight" is a four acre-plus field of LED luminescence arranged by Daan Roosegaarde, the same guy behind that glowing bike path modeled on Van Gogh's "The Starry Night." The installation is intentionally sited near the banks of the river IJssel (that's not a typo), to remind people that well-maintained levees are the only thing preventing it from overflowing. Designboom explains more about what Roosegaarde has dubbed a "virtual flood":