Twelve Hours Conference

There are a limited number of places, so please reserve yours by emailing: 12hodinova.konference@gmail.com.

This happening is a one-off event, not to be repeated.

12-Hour Conference is a performance event in which words, images, individual contributions and performances are combined in a complex collage. It is set in a night-time context, when institutions and their employees (including the night caretaker) are normally asleep.

12-Hour Conference is the result of almost a year’s research, based on interviews conducted by Barbora Kleinhamplová and Eva Koťátková with employees of The National Institute of Mental Health (NÚDZ) about their everyday anxieties, working regimes, daydreams and night dreams. The event provides space for their personal stories from which a portrait of the institution is constructed. The creator is interested in it as a place where stressed people explore the anxieties of others and try to measure, quantify, control and label them by a variety of means, despite often being incapable of managing and orienting themselves in their own anxiety. 

Even the creator of the piece is given a voice here (via the interpretors’ performances), which share frustration and anxiety related to communication about the organisation of the megalomanic artistic event with the large institution. This latter is eventually transferred from the original organisation (National Institute of Mental Health, NÚDZ) to a replacement institution, (The Czech Academy of Sciences, AVČR), which attempts, during this happening, to meet the new condtions.

A six-hour performance, which only begins as a conference, then is later transformed into a group hallucination, which escalates into a judicial trial, awaits the audience. In its framework, they will have the opportunity to become the subjects of experiments, to help model a giant brain and taste an unusual evening mixture.


,,Cuká mi oko, mám zvýšenou teplotu, potí se mi brýle zevnitř, trpím nespavostí – brzy se ale vzbudím a už neusnu.”

,,Sedíme v autě…… krajina okolo hoří….jsou tam továrny a nějaké strašně ošklivé město…a jak auto jede krajinou, její kousky se odchlypují jako pásy papíru…pomalu se odtrhnou od zbytku a to teplo je ohne….postupně jeden hořící pás krajiny za druhým…a záleží kde se ty trajektorie protnou…jak daleko budeme, až pás dopadne na cestu…mám pocit, že nemůžu ovlivnit ani jeden z těch pohybů.”

,,Zdá se mi o konferenci. Probíhá v celé budově. Zaměstnanci se rozhodli nejít domů. Někdo se zamkl ve své kanceláři, aby ho nevyhodila ostraha. Lékařka si na noc pozvala všechny své pacienty. Roli pacientů pro tentokrát přebrali vědci. Uzávěrky grantů byly vyhlášeny na půlnoc. Uklízečky si nerozdělily práci na směny – mají ambici uklidit během noci celou budovu. V laboratořích probíhá experiment, který se dlouho odkládal. Údržbář se rozhodl přes noc opravit závady na budově – stačí mu k tomu kabely a izolepa. Na recepci se střídavě spí, sní i hlídá. Těm, kterým by mohla brzy dojít energie je k dispozici výdej léků na ambulanci. V budově se hromadí mozky různých velikosti a zpracování. Myši suplují roli nemluvných průvodců.”

“My eye is twitching, I have a temperature, there’s sweat running down the insides of my glasses, I am suffering from insomnia — soon I wake up and can’t get back to sleep.”

“We are in a car. . . the surrounding countryside is burning. . . there are factories and a terribly ugly town. . . and as the car traverses the landscape, pieces of it peel off like strips of paper. . . they are torn off slowly and the heat bends them. . . one burning strip of landscape after the other gradually passes by. . . and how far along we will be when a strip falls on the road. . . depends on where the trajectories cross. . . I feel as though I can’t influence any of these movements.”

“Someone has locked himself in his office so that Security won’t throw him out. The doctor has invited all her patients this evening. The scientists will take over the roles of patients today. The grants’ deadline has been announced as midnight. The maids are not delegating shifts — they have decided to clean the whole building overnight. There is an experiment taking place in the laboratories that has long been postponed. The maintenance man has decided to take care of repairs to the building overnight; all he needs are cables and tape. At the reception, sleeping, dreaming and watching alternate. For those who run out of steam, medication is available at the clinic. Brains of different sizes and stages of processing accumulate in the building. Mice have taken over the role of guides.”

Zveme nespavce i ty, kterým nevadí ponocovat na nezvyklých místech.

Zveme ty, kteří nechají čas plynout trochu jinak.

Zveme ty, které zajímají příběhy druhých.

Zveme ty, kteří věří, že úzkost by se měla sdílet a mělo by se pátrat po jejích příčinách.

Zveme ty, kteří se rozhodli nerozšiřovat seznamy, které nám diktují co je a co není normální a raději budou skupinově halucinovat.

Zveme také odvážlivce, kteří jsou ochotni stát se pokusným subjektem.

Zveme ty, kteří v noci obědvají a ráno po probdělé noci jdou do práce.

Zveme ty, kterým nevadí noční hlášení.

Zveme ty, kteří se taky někdy ztratili v komunikaci s institucemi a rozhodli se říct o tom nějakou formou ostatním.

Budeme rádi, pokud se s námi rozhodnete strávit část noci a stanete se přímým účastníkem performativního bloku 12 hodinové konference, která nahlíží úzkost jako celospolečenský problém, ne jako problém jednotlivce.

Občerstvení, doprava i program zajištěny. Zbytek je na Vás.

Počet míst je omezený, proto si prosím rezervujte své místo na emailové adrese: 12hodinova.konference@gmail.com.

Velké poděkování patří zaměstnancům Národního ústavu duševního zdraví, bez kterých by celá událost nikdy nevznikla.

We invite all those insomniacs and those who don’t mind sleeping or spending the night in unusual places.

We invite all those who are interested in the stories of others.

We invite all those who believe that anxiety should be shared and that its causes should be sought.

We invite all those who have decided not to distribute lists that dictate to us what is and is not normal, and who would rather hallucinate as a group.

We invite all those who like to get lost in the building during a guided tour.

We also invite all those daredevils who are willing to become the subject (or object?) of an experiment.

We invite all those who have lunch at night and in the morning, after a sleepless night, go to work.

We invite all those who do not mind late-night announcements.

We invite all those who have also been lost at some point in communications with institutions and decided to somehow say it to others.

We will be very pleased if you decide to spend part of the night with us and become a direct participant in the 12-hour conference performative block, which considers anxiety as a society-wide problem, and not as a problem of the individual.

Refreshments, transportation and the programme of events are assured. The rest is up to you…

A big thank you to all the employees of The National Institute of Mental Health (NÚDZ) without whom this whole event would not be taking place.