Elwe Knast-Hotel

Maybe besides your interest in international art you are also teased by unconventional locations - then the temporary jail-hostel Elwe is your place to be. The Elwe is an ambitious hostel- and eventlocation-project, situated in an ancient jailhouse-area.

Heart of our project is the conversion of the jail - built around the year 1875 - into a temporary hostel during Documenta 13 in 2012. The well-known period of 100 days long we are going to transform the brick-building, located at Kassel Unterneustadt, into an international meeting point - 100 ancient prison cells will become hostel-rooms and formerly sealed off-courts will turn into open event-hangouts.

In the heart of Kassel. Cool ambiance.

Elwe is centrally located - inner city, Documenta-Halle and the Fridericianum are less than 1.000 m away; important tramway- and bus-lines stop right in front of Elwe entrance.

The atmosphere inside the building is completely different from what you would imagine: bright and colourful. Typical jailhouse graffitis make several rooms remarkable own artworks. Equipment stays reduced: bed, locker, basin*, toilet* inside the cell. Central shower-rooms. Elwe is not made for scoring by luxuary - and it doesn't want to either. In exchange it is our benchmark to provide you one of the most interessting and extraordinary locations of Kassel's summer of arts 2012.

Welcome to jail!

Elwe Kassel :: open from june 8th 2012 until september 17th 2012.

Please note that we do not provide any car-parking facilities.
We highly recommend the use of public transportation.

*in some cases the equipment may be varying. Not all cells are similarly built.