Supervisor: prof. MgA. Milena Dopitová

Power structures such as law enforcement agencies, prisons and other institutions involved in criminal proceedings are often presented as instruments of protection and rehabilitation, but their functionality and ethical integrity are often the subject of criticism and questioning. It is precisely these structures that decide on the freedom of individuals or manipulate it.

The project builds on a multidisciplinary approach combining theoretical research with practical media applications such as exhibitions, documentary recordings, investigative approaches and activation programmes in prisons to examine the prison system and justice. At the same time, it opens up discussion and offers proposals for its transformation towards humanisation, understanding and the integration of prisoners into society.

The dissertation is divided into three main areas.
1) The Institute of Unfreedom, a platform I founded, focuses on connecting the world behind prison walls with the world outside. It explores ways to integrate prisoners’ artistic activities into the public space and to what extent the presentation of their work outside prison can contribute to
breaking down stereotypes, mutual understanding and real rehabilitation.
2) Exploring Guilt and Innocence / Grey Zone focuses on the influence of power structures and police practices on justice. It analyses the accuracy of investigative methods, such as the reliability of scent evidence, and highlights their limitations in judicial decision-making.
3) The future of prisons offers futuristic views on the transformation of the prison system, including solutions to overcrowding, the use of virtual reality, and proposals for how prisons can function outside traditional physical boundaries, such as replacing this institution in space, where isolation
is enhanced by weightlessness, which changes daily routines and the concept of physical freedom.
The stories and themes related to the dissertation project are often full of oppression, suffering and injustice, but they also demonstrate an unprecedented tenacity that leads to the search for freedom.

The aim of the project is not to create new legislation, but to raise questions about human rights and critically reflect on the justice system. Through this approach, the project seeks to link theory with practice and find ways to further humanise the prison system and justice.

MgA. Lenka Tyrpeklová,

Studio:

Dissertation: (Re)construction of (un)freedom. The question of social reform

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