Andy Picci > Exhibitions > 2022_hek_basel

2022 The ARTour – HEK, Basel, CH. Curated by Sabine Himmelsbach.

Jellyfish populate Basel fountains, a white figure walks on a giant sculpture in the market square, mushrooms dance in the Münzgasse: what sounds like a dream is the new and interactive ARTour through the city of Basel. The augmented reality (AR) exhibition is a journey between the digital and the real world, bringing art to life in new and innovative ways.

For the 125th anniversary, Roche conceived and implemented the ARTour in close cooperation with Basel Tourism, HEK (House of Electronic Arts) and the City of Basel. Ten national and international artists, including Melodie Mousset, Andy Picci and Tamiko Thiel, have created digital artworks on the theme of “Celebrate Life” especially for the tour. The artworks open up new, interactive ways for viewers to explore art and the city of Basel.

With a 90-minute walk through Basel’s center, the ARTour can be taken at any time. Without a fixed starting or ending point, the site-specific artworks can also be discovered in any order, for example at Mittlere Brücke, Marktplatz, Messe or Petersplatz.

The artworks on the tour are not visible to the naked eye, but are only brought to life by a smartphone. This requires the free ARTour app, which will is available in all app stores since May 2022. Through an interactive map, the app shows the respective locations of the artworks and provides further information about the artworks, the artists, museums in the vicinity and the tour in general. In about a year, Roche will present the ARTour to the city of Basel as a gift. With this interactive art format, Basel joins the list of cities such as London, Berlin or Tel Aviv, where such digital art exhibitions have already inspired a large audience.

Artists involved: Andy Picci, Erika Marthins, Tabita Rezaire, Studio Above & Below, Studer / van den Berg, Marc Lee, MengXuan Sun, Tamiko Thiel, Mélodie Mousset & Eduardo Fouilloux, Manuel Rossner.

Funded by: Roche.
Text: Sabine Himmelsbach, 2022