VisitOSLO releases Henrik Ibsen augmented reality city tour

VisitOSLO has announced a new augmented reality app ‘Oslo Spex’, which allows visitors to join famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen on a tour of the city. OsloSpex combines stories about Ibsen’s life, art and relationship with Oslo. Visitors to the city can explore these as they walk around the city using an app on their phones. It is free of charge in English and Norwegian. The app was developed through a collaboration between VisitOSLO, the Norwegian technology company Haptiq AS and The Norwegian Ibsen Company, founded by actor Kåre Conradi. Conradi commented: “It has been important for us to be true to Ibsen’s appearance and his demeanour. Ibsen has been described by others as everything from warm and funny to hard, cold and distanced with a razor-sharp look. His distinctive features lie in the details, says Conradi. “It has been a challenging task to make a credible Henrik Ibsen. There are no audio recordings or film clips of him. Inspiration is taken from photos, drawings, paintings and what has been said and written about him. In addition, biographies and letters are used to find different character descriptions; everything to make Ibsen as close to reality as possible. The famous playwright is portrayed in the app through the Norwegian actor Jan Sælid.”