Imperfect house

The imperfect house in the evening

The Unperfekthaus (also called UpH for short ) is a cultural institution in Essen . The house offers gastronomy and overnight accommodation, but the focus is on a large space for seminars and artistic activities. The facility, founded by Reinhard Wiesemann in 2004, is housed in a former Franciscan monastery in downtown Essen .

concept

Staircats, stairwell with cats in the imperfect house

The "artist village" Unperfekthaus offers on 4000 square meters, spread over seven floors, creative and working people the opportunity to realize themselves. Any censorship or guidelines are waived. The only requirement is that the activities are legal, creative and open to the public.

According to its own statements, the UpH wants to “be a stepping stone to turn your dream into a career or to found a company” without significant financial risks. There are no fixed costs for the creative, as the use of the rooms is free for them.

The visitors are an important part of the concept. The entire building is open to visitors who pay admission, which includes all non-alcoholic drinks in the catering areas. Visitors can move freely throughout the building and look over the shoulders of many creative people. In addition, rooms can be used for public events but also for meetings.

The house also includes the "WG-Hotel" with 14 beds. Here, too, there is an all-inclusive concept, but the hotel can only be rented in full.

criticism

In January 2016, the UpH was a venue for the establishment of an Essen vigilantes announced. In particular, the suspicion that right-wing extremists are among the initiators of the vigilante group led to widespread criticism. After the Essen alliance "Essen turns across" announced a demonstration under the motto "Against every vigilante in Essen" for the day of the event on January 22nd, 2016, the event was canceled and the UpH was closed on that day for security reasons.

Awards

• 2004: Innovation Prize of the Network of Innovative Citizens NiBB (category "Economy, Social Innovation"), awarded to Reinhard Wiesemann and the Unperfekthaus project
• 2007: Culture Prize of the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e. V. , awarded to the Unperfekthaus project
• 2015: Reinhard Wiesemann as a citizen of the Ruhr area

literature

• Reinhard Wiesemann, Bettina Mankowski: Food imperfect. Making of imperfect house. A house is the beginning . Verlag Villa Vogelsang, Essen 2004, ISBN 3-9809343-2-2 .

Web links

Commons : Unperfekthaus  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• The imperfect house at ruhr-guide.de
• Video about the imperfect house on youtube

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christiane Hoffmans: Perfection undesirable. Welt Online , August 22, 2004, accessed January 17, 2011.
2. ↑ Website of the "WG-Hotel"
3. ↑ Frank Stenglein, Jörg Maibaum: Wiesemann: "Against Nazis and self-proclaimed do-gooders" WAZ Online , January 22, 2016, accessed on January 24, 2016
4. ^ WAZ Online: “Bürgerwehr” foundation - Unperfekthaus closes on Friday. WAZ Online , January 22, 2016, accessed on January 24, 2016
5. ↑ NiBB Innovation Prize Winner 2004 on the website of the KIT Initiative Deutschland e. V. (formerly Network of Innovative Citizens (NiBB) ). (Accessed October 11, 2010.)
6. ↑ Culture Prize → Prize Winner 2007: Unperfekthaus, Essen ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e. V. (Accessed October 11, 2010.) 

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 31.6 ″  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 26.3 ″  E