Artist Paul Wiersbinski awarded the 2024 World Heritage Residence Scholarship

This year, 2024, the World Heritage Residence Scholarship goes to German artist Paul Wiersbinski, Berlin, for his project entitled "The Perfect House". The project will connect together the World Heritage sites Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland and the German Berlin Modernism Housing Estates by artistically interweaving urban Berlin with rural Hälsingland. The project was inspired by the idea of navigating through a perfect house and making an aesthetic connection to the historical memory.

In total, 302 applications were received this year from 58 countries for a World Heritage Scholarship – an international cultural scholarship instituted by the Gävleborg Region. Thanks to the World Heritage Scholarship, the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland are placed in other interesting contexts, where artists all over the world with exciting ideas can view the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland in a new light. By connecting one World Heritage site with another, new perspectives on World Heritage work are opened up", says Anna-Karin Ferm, World Heritage & Cultural Developer, Region Gävleborg.

The World Heritage Scholarship is aimed at artists, researchers and cultural practitioners worldwide, and is a unique effort aiming to connect World Heritage sites together. The Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, Sweden's most recently designated World Heritage site, wishes to use this scholarship to build cultural and artistic bridges between World Heritage sites, all in the spirit of UNESCO and in line with the intentions of the World Heritage Convention. 

It is clear that the scholarship has gained international popularity. Applications this year were received from Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Belarus, Benin, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Ghana, The Gambia, Italy, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan , Kenya, Congo, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nairobi, Namibia, Nigeria, Niger, Nepal, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Portugal, Rwanda, Russia, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Senegal , Thailand, Germany, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

It has been incredibly interesting to engage with all the ideas and thoughts about how the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland can interest and enrich other World Heritage sites around the world, especially during the troubled times we are living in, since World Heritage is a project of peace, says Anna-Karin Ferm.

As a recipient of the World Heritage Scholarship, Paul Wiersbinski receives 50,000 SEK to aid him in realising his project, and he will be given opportunity to stay at one of the decorated farmhouses for a month.

Welcoming Paul Wiersbinski to Hälsingland marks a step towards opening new creative doors between cultural world heritage sites. His project ”The perfect house” will unite two distinct world heritage sites, the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland and Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, in a way that enriches both our regional and the global cultural heritage. It is a honour for us to host an artist who, with his artistic playfulness, will create an exciting interweaving of history and aesthetics, says Frida Stål (M), chair of the culture and skills committee.

Call for Applications 2024 Read motivation