Mörbisch AR
Mörbisch Before the Curtain Rises
Location
Mörbisch am See, Burgenland, Austria
Format
Location-based AR audio app
Experience
Acoustic exploration of the festival grounds, the town, and its surroundings
Places
Seven listening stations throughout Mörbisch and the surrounding area
Voices
Alfons Haider, Harald Serafin, Bettina Zentgraf, cyclists exploring the region, Herbert and Gisela Alsen, and leading characters from current musical productions
Special Feature
The festival becomes accessible as part of a living community and cultural landscape
Goal
To immerse visitors in the atmosphere of the festival before the performance begins while revealing Mörbisch as a place, a region, and an experience in its own right
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Teaser
Mörbisch AR extends the Seefestspiele experience beyond the festival grounds and into the town itself.
Throughout Mörbisch and at selected locations around the region, visitors encounter voices from the festival’s history, its present-day community, local tourism, and the worlds of its musical productions. The result is an acoustic journey through a place that is far more than a stage by the lake. The app prepares visitors for an evening at the festival while simultaneously opening up Mörbisch as a community, a region, and a lived experience.
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Solution
The Seefestspiele Mörbisch are more than an evening performance.
They are a landscape, a community, and a history. They are the audience members who return year after year and the region that evolves alongside the festival itself.
Mörbisch AR therefore begins with a different question than a conventional festival guide:
What becomes audible when we listen to a place and the people who shape it?
The app guides visitors to selected locations around the festival grounds and beyond. At each station, acoustic encounters unfold through voices, memories, and characters that tell the story of Mörbisch from different perspectives. Visitors hear not only what happens on stage, but also what exists before it, around it, and behind it.
Alfons Haider reflects on his relationship with the festival and his personal connection to Mörbisch. Harald Serafin, the long-serving artistic director and one of the defining figures in the festival’s history, shares memories of its origins, development, and remarkable moments. Bettina Zentgraf, mayor of Mörbisch, contributes the perspective of the local community, speaking about the festival’s reputation, its challenges, and its significance for the town. Having performed on the lake stage herself, she offers a uniquely personal view.
The festival’s founder, Herbert Alsen, and his wife Gisela appear in a particularly moving constellation: a conversation across time. Gisela tells Herbert what has happened since his death in the late 1970s, creating a small acoustic leap through history in which the story of the festival becomes unexpectedly intimate.
Alongside these historical and institutional voices, the app reveals Mörbisch as a destination for nature, recreation, and enjoyment. Cyclists exploring the region leave audio messages describing their impressions of the landscape and local culture. The result is a meeting point between nature, music, hospitality, and people—the very combination that defines Mörbisch as a place to experience.
Each year, a character from the current musical production joins this chorus of voices. Eliza Doolittle speaks of her journey from flower girl to high-society lady; in other seasons, figures such as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever or Albin/Zaza from La Cage aux Folles make their appearance. In this way, the physical location becomes intertwined with the world of the stage. The performance is no longer confined to the theatre—it begins while walking, listening, and arriving.
Mörbisch AR creates an atmosphere that prepares visitors for the evening performance while also serving as a companion for anyone exploring the town outside the festival season. The content is tied to specific locations and becomes audible precisely where it gains meaning: at information points, along pathways, in public squares, and in the transitions between lake, village, and festival grounds.
What makes the experience unique is its polyphony.
Many voices come together to create a shared portrait: artistic direction, history, community life, tourism, memory, performance, and landscape.
Mörbisch AR transforms the journey to the performance into part of the performance itself.
And it turns the festival town into a listening space where history, present experience, and anticipation converge.