We’ve been open for about two weeks now – time for a recap of what has happened since.

Our great opening

Highlight of the month is naturally the joint Opening of temporärhaus and Haus der Nachhaltigkeit on Saturday, September 16th. The 99 reserved ticket slots were quickly booked, and, to our delight, so was the waiting list.

Naturally, we aimed to include interested persons who could not attend in person. Hence, we tinkered until the end to provide everybody with a live stream – including a mobile setup for a guided tour across all rooms. Of course, we did not turn away anyone who showed up!

The grand opening also marked the final stretch for most parts of the remodeling efforts which took place basically every day during the weeks before. There are still minor issues to be completed, but the opening date made it clear that the stage, all the PA and event infrastructure, the accessible toilet and a bunch of other construction sites needed to be done by that date. All these remodelling efforts have only been possible due to thousands of volunteered work hours by both our communities. And we are really proud of what we have been able to achieve together as a civic community!

The date for the opening was purposely set for the day of Kulturnacht Ulm/Neu-Ulm. Beginning with the very first day, we wanted to open our shared house for the general public and anybody interested. Harbor songs were played by “The Dogs of The Bay”, a band with members from the Haus der Nachhaltigkeit. Meanwhile, both our groups catered all interested visitors with food and drink, led guided tours across the rooms and let them experience the exhibits: audiovisual animations of Wikipedia edits, better images for the AI hype and interactive exhibits and art by bleeptrack. We were very delighted about the great demand, since queues started to form along the sidewalk right from the minute we opened in the evening!

Regular program right from the opening

Our regular programming started immediately after the opening weekend. The re-opening of our Maker Monday on Monday, September 18th drew a crowd of about 25 people. Right on the next evening, a Live Let’s Play followed.

Wednesday, September 27th saw the re-boot of another favourite of ours that we had previously organized for years in the old rooms at Weinhof: LoRaWAN and TTN is back in business for anybody interested in free sensor networks and IoT. As before, every other week will see either an open evening and a hack night focused on finishing one’s project on a rotational basis.
The same day saw our Temporärhaus hosting the first partner event for ZAWiW’s Fall Academy’: We demonstrated how to contribute to OpenStreetMap’s quality through the StreetComplete app.

On Thursday, September 28th, a four-person delegation of our patron Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE) stopped by our house while they were on the way to WikiCon in Linz. Together with 13 of our volunteers we held a planning workshop about what will and can happen in our rooms, how to report our activities to WMDE and how to keep the public informed about our activities.

Along all these “official” events, there is still a lot of work to be done. Some of the construction sites that were temporarily put on hold for the opening need to be completed. The wood workshop has seen a lot of progress and one tool after another becomes usable. We strive to finish all the open tasks together with Haus der Nachhaltigkeit by the end of the year.

That’s not all, by far!

We are looking forward to re-boot all the usual, regular events that you have come to enjoy in the past years. October will see the re-start of Nähcafé, our textile and sewing workshop program. There is still a lot to be done, but having finished the main remodelling tasks allows a lot of other programming to resume – both ones you have been familiar with, and others that are only possible through our new-found cooperation. As before, you are invited to participate to mold our third place for our twin cities.

From 2017 through 2020 we had created monthly activity and transparency reports for one patron and the lord mayor. We want to re-introduce this kind of chronicling – but now, finally, also for the general public, in order to create transparency and accountability.

The last few years have been very turbulent. A pandemic, a lawsuit, the search for a new house and the renaming of the community and e.V. to temporärhaus have kept us all on our toes. But now the time has finally come: on Saturday, 16th of September, we will open the doors of our new house in Neu-Ulm for the first time for the Kulturnacht (culture night), a house that we have been preparing together with the Haus der Nachhaltigkeit (HdN) since May and which we will now finally open together! 🥳

We have already teased a few first impressions of the renovation phase on social media and our website. Now that the renovation is largely complete, everything looks even more colourful, bigger, and more beautiful! 🤩

As in previous years, we have of course prepared an exciting programme for the Kulturnacht. We’ll be open from 19:00 to 01:00 and show you digital art and other bits in the spacious premises. Thanks to a joint performance with the HdN, there will even be live music this time! Look forward to the following programme provided by us:

• Screen printing: feel free to bring textiles that you would like to have screen printed :)
• Exhibitions on the current AI hype
• Retro co-op gaming
• Guided tours through the new rooms

In addition, the HdN will have its own programme. So it’s worth taking a look at the Neu-Ulm side of the Danube! You can find us at Augsburgerstr. 23-25 in Neu-Ulm, which is easy to reach on foot.

Unfortunately, you don’t have time on Kulturnacht?
No problem! Immediately after the Kulturnacht, we’ll be offering some of our familiar formats on a regular basis again, starting with a Maker Monday on 18.09.2023. You’ll soon find all the other dates in our calendar 📅 again as usual.

We look forward to seeing you!
Your temporärhaus-Community

PS: We have finally managed to get a hang of this ‘digitalisation’ and there is now a form to become a supporting member of the temporärhaus e.V. 😉

We’re not even getting around to posting all the numerous construction and furnishing progresses—the renovation work is progressing at lightning speed so that we can open our doors for the first public events as soon as possible. Together with Haus der Nachhaltigkeit, we are installing drywall, painting the existing walls, ensuring the greatest possible accessibility and furnishing the parts that are already ready for occupancy.

The good news is that, in addition to our know-how, we also have a lot of material that will enable us to offer you the basic, familiar program again relatively quickly. So far, we have also been able to cover a good proportion of the renovation costs from our membership fees.

Nevertheless, there are some points where you can help us—and since there have been repeated requests for how you can currently support us, we would like to list them here!

Supporting membership for long-term planning security

The more members and supporters with predictable financial contributions we have, the more solidly we can plan upcoming purchases. Every single membership gives us a little more leeway and long-term independence. Only with a broad membership base can we bridge phases without external funding, for example. If you don’t want to become a sustaining member right away, a permanent donation via Betterplace is also an option—with a sustaining membership, however, your contribution ends up with us without any deductions and can be used for our offers.

Of course, memberships and sponsorships from companies and institutions are also welcome—please contact us, if you have any ideas! We are a non-profit (gemeinnützig) organization, which means that all contributions and donations are tax-deductible.

Individual donations for missing equipment

We also have good news about equipment and facilities: in 2021, before the dispute with the city began, we had obtained funding from the DSEE and were able to acquire a lot of equipment that now exclusively belongs to us. Nevertheless, after we were kicked out, we unfortunately had to leave behind some great equipment that we had selected and maintained, but which had been paid for by the city. In particular, a sliding table saw, a jointer and thickness planer and two band saws are now waiting for 1.5 years in the former wood workshop at the Weinhof for the reopening promised by the city. Above all, they can no longer be offered by us during our workshop hours.

We have since been able to fill some of these gaps in our range with donations in kind: We now have another laser cutter that is practically equivalent to the old one, and our friends from Haus der Nachhaltigkeit have organized a beautiful old workbench and a circular saw, both of which we are currently refurbishing 🫶

However, we are still sorely missing some machines: a plunge saw for large wooden panels, an industrial vacuum cleaner for the workshop and a compressor, for example. For the necessary safety and fire protection requirements, we also need CO2 extinguishers for the laser cutter again and need to have the extinguishers still in the new building refurbished and brought up to code. Small items such as first aid kits and fire safety signs also cost money.

Support

If you would like to support us, there are several ways to do so: For new purchases, we have created corresponding budgets for individual donations on Betterplace. We will cover part of these requirements with donations from our members, for whom this facility is very important, and deposit the amounts paid in this way on Betterplace. Donations in kind also help us. The expensive thing about first aid kits is not the material, but the first aid kit with wall bracket—and if you or your company would have thrown something like this out anyway, feel free to contact us!

Last but not least, we would like to thank you once again for all the support and encouragement we have already received from so many of you—even from unexpected quarters. Your support has kept us going throughout the legal dispute and motivates us to now join forces and enjoy our work to turn the former Sport-Sohn building into a great space by civil society for civil society <3