ARTour FAQs

The ARTour is a digital art exhibition in the city of Basel. Ten augmented reality artworks can be discovered at different locations in the city. All artworks are located in the center of Basel. To experience the ARTour, all you need is a smartphone and the ARTour app. You can download it for free from the Apple Store or the Google Play Store.

Augmented Reality is a technology by which reality can be enhanced with digital elements. These digital elements can be seen on a screen. Augmented Reality is already used in many places in transportation, tourism or television, and is also an increasingly popular medium in art.

The ARTour is free of charge. It is a cultural engagement of Roche in cooperation with the city of Basel, Basel Tourism and the HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel. 

The ARTour was created as part of Roche's 125th anniversary and represents a gift to the city of Basel. The ARTour was developed in close cooperation with the city of Basel, Basel Tourism and the HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel.

To walk around all the sites and to look at the artworks you should expect about 90 - 120 minutes, depending on how fast you walk and how much time you want to take per artwork.

Yes, each artwork can be viewed individually. The app will show you which artworks you have already seen. You can also view the artworks on different days and individually.

Yes, you can view the artworks as often and as long as you want.

No. The app works without mobile internet once the app is completely downloaded to the device and opened once. However, internet is required for the download. There are individual artworks that work with live data. These artworks also work without internet, the data used is then from the moment you were last connected to the internet.

The ARTour app can be downloaded with an Android device or iPhone. For Apple devices, this should be newer than an iPhone 7 and have at least the operating system iOS 15+. For Android devices it needs at least an operating system 9+. AR Core support is a prerequisite. In detail, all devices that support AR Core can be found at the following link: AR Core Support.

To see an artwork, you have to be in the right location. You can see the respective locations of the artworks on the map in the app. When you are in the right place, a "Discover Now" button will appear. This will take you into camera mode to place the artwork. To do this, follow the instructions in the app. Once the artwork is placed, you should see it on the screen. If it's not, it's best to close the app completely by "swiping away" and restart it again. If that doesn't help, try restarting the smartphone.

To place an artwork, the camera must first scan the ground. Once the ground is scanned, a green area appears on the ground. Follow the instructions on the screen and click "Place" to place the artwork at the location of the green area.

If you have already placed an artwork and you would like to reposition it, you can do so with the "Reposition" button, which you will see at the bottom right of the screen.

No, the artworks can only be viewed at the respective location in Basel. Under "Try it now" there is an augmented reality object for you to try out at home. 

Once in the camera mode of the app, there is the option below to take pictures and record videos. These recordings are automatically saved on the device.

The ARTour asks you after the installation for the authorization for the GPS. If you have declined this, you have to manually re-authorize it in the settings of your phone. Furthermore, the GPS is susceptible to interference, especially indoors or when there are tall buildings around you. Go outdoors and try again. If that doesn't help, close the app and open it again.

There is a GPS error on devices with the Android 11 operating system. Here it is not possible to display the respective location on the map. We recommend to search and select the nearest location on the ARTour map and then use your regular map on your smartphone to get there. The artwork will work normally even if the location is not displayed correctly.

The ARTour app uses AR (augmented reality) features for the artwork. There are over 500 different Android models that support these features. This includes devices that were launched before 2016. Unfortunately, however, there are isolated current devices that do not support AR in general. For this reason, it is not possible for individual users to download the app. Unfortunately, we do not know why the manufacturer made this decision. We would have to ask the manufacturer of the device directly about the reasons.

The best thing to do is to close the app completely by "swiping away" and start it again. If that doesn't help, please restart the smartphone. If that still doesn't help, contact us with a detailed description of the behavior in the app at [email protected].

The best way is to visit basel.com or contact the Tourist Information at Barfüsserplatz. You can also find the location of the Tourist Information on the map of ARTour.