Psychoanalysis of one space - report from the course of the event
Probe of the subconscious of the former Bohnice laundry
4AM Forum for Architecture and Media /Brno/ at the Bohnice Laundry
curators: Barbora Šedivá, Petra Hlaváčková
4AM/team: Jan Svoboda, Jakub Kopec, Jaroslav Sedlák, Klára Eliášová, Šárka Svobodová, Agáta Žáčková
exhibition 16. 8. - 30. 9. 2013 / opening on 16. 8. at 6 PM
open: Wed, Sat, Sun, 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM / during this time, public laundry is free
Until 1993, laundry for all residents of the sanitarium was washed in the Laundry building. What role did the laundry building play in the massive mechanism of the psychiatric hospital, where the hierarchy between patients and doctors was erased with the collective washing of their clothes, and at the same time, any individuality disappeared? What of this purifying (or suppressive?) process still remains in the building?
The exhibition is a partial restoration of the original function of the laundry. Patients now have the opportunity to come here and wash their clothes for free in the installed washing machines (which is a paid service in the individual pavilions), with detergent, fabric softener, and clotheslines available. While waiting for their laundry, they can listen to sounds and voices resonating through the various spaces:
Josef Tichý: History of the Laundry
Martin Freund, Juraj Barbarič: Hypnotic Story/ Illustration of the Psychotherapeutic Narrative Method
Recordings from discussions on the topic of Work Therapy: Jan Tabor/ Punishment by Work, Luba Kobová/ As long as it’s creative
"The large washer had 11 chambers. Each chamber had a capacity of 30 kg. About 3.5 tons of laundry were washed here daily. I worked here for 14 years and was the head of the laundry until 1994. Only women worked here. There were 25 workers and 2 maintenance workers. Patients used to come to help. They liked coming, there was some Míša who came often. It was quite physically demanding work, especially the linens were heavy; it would hurt the back. The worst was during holidays; when there were several days off, everything piled up and then it was chaos. Names were embroidered on the doctors' clothing. After 1989, they had to account for hours worked and be paid. They mainly helped with pre-folding before shirts were ironed and sorting dirty laundry. It feels strange here now; I have never seen it like this; it’s rather depressing. We worked from 6:00 AM to 2:30 PM, on Mondays until 3:00 PM, and on Fridays until 2:00 PM. There were breaks for lunch and snacks, especially in summer, it was essential to drink a lot."
Accompanying program that took place:
Work Therapy - breakfast discussions
August 13 - 15, 2013, always from 10 AM to 12 PM
Referring to the successful therapy method, which involved patients in the maintenance and operation of the entire Bohnice complex since the 1950s, we are organizing discussions with professionals from various fields about their relationship to their own profession and its specifics. Come for breakfast and discussion.
August 13: JAN TABOR (CZ/AT) / Punishment by Work
Austrian-Czech architecture theorist will speak on the subject of work as unfreedom and its projection into the architecture of various epochs. The phenomenon of work was abused within authoritarian regimes to punish regime opponents or was part of political propaganda.
August 14: ĽUBA KOBOVÁ (SK/CZ) / As long as it’s creative
A talk about the pitfalls of creating and disciplining the creative – and productive – working person.
August 15: PAVEL KAROUS (CZ) / Art in "real capitalism" - Questions of contemporary visual art in public space in the Czech Republic
The lecture focuses on the development of visual art expressions in the exterior after 1989. It addresses the crisis of official state structures supporting monumental art and seeks to find and understand their cause. It also strives to highlight unique cases where quality contemporary art was successfully advocated through official channels.
Film Therapy - summer cinema in the Bohnice sanitarium
August 12-15, 2013, always at 8:45 PM
For both patients of the sanitarium and residents of the adjacent housing estate, we are organizing a summer cinema dedicated to the healing effects of irony and sarcasm in Czech comedies from the 1960s and 1970s.
August 12
OUR MAD FAMILY
Czechoslovakia / 1968
Directed by / Jan Valášek, Karel Kachyňa
August 13
MURDER OF ING. ČERT
Czechoslovakia / 1970
Screenplay and direction / Ester Krumbachová
August 14
I, SAD GOD
Czechoslovakia / 1969
Directed by / Antonín Kachlík
August 15
DEVIL'S HONEYMOON
Czechoslovakia / 1970
Directed by / Zdeněk Podskalský
curators: Barbora Šedivá, Petra Hlaváčková
4AM/team: Jan Svoboda, Jakub Kopec, Jaroslav Sedlák, Klára Eliášová, Šárka Svobodová, Agáta Žáčková
exhibition 16. 8. - 30. 9. 2013 / opening on 16. 8. at 6 PM
open: Wed, Sat, Sun, 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM / during this time, public laundry is free
Until 1993, laundry for all residents of the sanitarium was washed in the Laundry building. What role did the laundry building play in the massive mechanism of the psychiatric hospital, where the hierarchy between patients and doctors was erased with the collective washing of their clothes, and at the same time, any individuality disappeared? What of this purifying (or suppressive?) process still remains in the building?
The exhibition is a partial restoration of the original function of the laundry. Patients now have the opportunity to come here and wash their clothes for free in the installed washing machines (which is a paid service in the individual pavilions), with detergent, fabric softener, and clotheslines available. While waiting for their laundry, they can listen to sounds and voices resonating through the various spaces:
Josef Tichý: History of the Laundry
Martin Freund, Juraj Barbarič: Hypnotic Story/ Illustration of the Psychotherapeutic Narrative Method
Recordings from discussions on the topic of Work Therapy: Jan Tabor/ Punishment by Work, Luba Kobová/ As long as it’s creative
"The large washer had 11 chambers. Each chamber had a capacity of 30 kg. About 3.5 tons of laundry were washed here daily. I worked here for 14 years and was the head of the laundry until 1994. Only women worked here. There were 25 workers and 2 maintenance workers. Patients used to come to help. They liked coming, there was some Míša who came often. It was quite physically demanding work, especially the linens were heavy; it would hurt the back. The worst was during holidays; when there were several days off, everything piled up and then it was chaos. Names were embroidered on the doctors' clothing. After 1989, they had to account for hours worked and be paid. They mainly helped with pre-folding before shirts were ironed and sorting dirty laundry. It feels strange here now; I have never seen it like this; it’s rather depressing. We worked from 6:00 AM to 2:30 PM, on Mondays until 3:00 PM, and on Fridays until 2:00 PM. There were breaks for lunch and snacks, especially in summer, it was essential to drink a lot."
Accompanying program that took place:
Work Therapy - breakfast discussions
August 13 - 15, 2013, always from 10 AM to 12 PM
Referring to the successful therapy method, which involved patients in the maintenance and operation of the entire Bohnice complex since the 1950s, we are organizing discussions with professionals from various fields about their relationship to their own profession and its specifics. Come for breakfast and discussion.
August 13: JAN TABOR (CZ/AT) / Punishment by Work
Austrian-Czech architecture theorist will speak on the subject of work as unfreedom and its projection into the architecture of various epochs. The phenomenon of work was abused within authoritarian regimes to punish regime opponents or was part of political propaganda.
August 14: ĽUBA KOBOVÁ (SK/CZ) / As long as it’s creative
A talk about the pitfalls of creating and disciplining the creative – and productive – working person.
August 15: PAVEL KAROUS (CZ) / Art in "real capitalism" - Questions of contemporary visual art in public space in the Czech Republic
The lecture focuses on the development of visual art expressions in the exterior after 1989. It addresses the crisis of official state structures supporting monumental art and seeks to find and understand their cause. It also strives to highlight unique cases where quality contemporary art was successfully advocated through official channels.
Film Therapy - summer cinema in the Bohnice sanitarium
August 12-15, 2013, always at 8:45 PM
For both patients of the sanitarium and residents of the adjacent housing estate, we are organizing a summer cinema dedicated to the healing effects of irony and sarcasm in Czech comedies from the 1960s and 1970s.
August 12
OUR MAD FAMILY
Czechoslovakia / 1968
Directed by / Jan Valášek, Karel Kachyňa
August 13
MURDER OF ING. ČERT
Czechoslovakia / 1970
Screenplay and direction / Ester Krumbachová
August 14
I, SAD GOD
Czechoslovakia / 1969
Directed by / Antonín Kachlík
August 15
DEVIL'S HONEYMOON
Czechoslovakia / 1970
Directed by / Zdeněk Podskalský
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