The 12-hour Conference – Barbora Kleinhamplová & Eva Koťátková

This publication by the authors Barbora Kleinhamplová and Eva Koťátková is the outcome of one year of field research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Klecany, incorporating more than 70 interviews with its employees, with the aim of building up a subjective portrait of the institution.
The backbone of the publication is the transcript of a 12-hour conference of a performative authorial format, divided into three parts: Conference, Hallucination and Judgement, plus an extensive pictorial part composed of fragments of images of the institution. The script offers an insight into the daily rituals, operational functions, dreams, visions and also pressures and anxieties of the employees of an institution which not only examines, but also generates anxiety.

Graphic design by Jan Brož

Translation by Tereza Novická

Published with the support of the Prague City Council, the State Culture Fund and the Goethe-Institute.