AR + Art + Tour = ARTour Basel

Unique physical-digital AR tour through Basel with 11 artworks

In this interactive art experience, you embark on a journey between the digital and the real world. Art is made tangible in a new and innovative way: thanks to augmented reality in the heart of Basel. Public, available year-round, and free of charge. The ARTour offers a younger audience an unconventional way to access art.

For Roche's 125th anniversary, ten artists each created a digital work on the theme of "Celebrate Life". The tour is a gift from Roche to the city of Basel. Additional content has since been added.

Great media attention

11 digital artworks...

In close collaboration with JEFF, the House of Electronic Arts (HEK), and the following artists, impressive AR artworks on the theme of "Celebrate Life" were created:

Studio Above & Below (UK) | Petersplatz
Andi Picci (CH) | Mittlere Rheinbrücke
Erika Marthins (SWE) | Totentanzpark
Manuel Rossner (DE) | Messe
Marc Lee (CH) | Münsterplatz
Mélodie Mousset (CH) | Wettsteinplatz
Meng Xuan (CHN) | Wettsteinpark
Studer / van den Berg (CH) | Münzgasse
Tabita Rezaire (FRA) | Maternité
Tamiko Thiel (USA) | Solitudepark
Claudia Hart (USA) | Tinguely-Brunnen

...experience it with the ARTour App

The map-based ARTour App makes art and the public space of Basel tangible in an innovative and interactive way. On a tour of around 90 minutes, the app guides visitors to eleven selected locations in the city – including well-known places such as Petersplatz or the Paul-Sacher-Anlage.

At the individual stations, ARTour connects real places with digital art and augmented reality (AR). Using your own smartphone, new visual and interactive experiences are created directly in the urban space, combining traditional art education with modern technology.

The tour invites you to discover Basel from a new perspective and combines art, culture, technology, and tourism into a shared experience. At the same time, visitors are guided purposefully through different neighborhoods and public spaces, also discovering places away from the classic sights.

In this way, ARTour expands the cultural offering of the art city of Basel with a digital experience accessible at any time and shows how augmented reality can be used meaningfully to present art in a surprising and contemporary way.

Continuously new artworks and AR experiences

Over the years, the app has been continuously expanded and regularly supplemented with new digital artworks. As a result, visitors and residents of Basel keep discovering new, unique AR experiences in public space.

The combination of art, augmented reality, and mobile technologies creates an additional way to access the city and makes cultural content tangible in an innovative and interactive way. This keeps the app exciting in the long term and allows it to continuously evolve with new artworks and digital productions.