Illustrated constitution comes out published by Adam Berka. During the preparations he discussed his idea with the lawyers, Andrej Kolenčík took care of the illustrations and Boris Meluš is behind the design.

He has always wanted to publish books for a long time, but it took him a while. He did it the indirect way and first he opened a bookshop. Originally it was supposed to be just an online shop with a few titles, today Adam Berka also has a brick and mortar bookstore. However, not only that was the reason why he decided it’s time to publish his first book – and not an ordinary one.

 

 

 

On the counters in Adam’s shop near main station in Bratislava there are mainly books and magazines about art, design and architecture, but in the first of September there will also be illustrated edition of Slovak National Constitution. 

 

The book is sorted by each part, to which Andrej Kolenčík drew illustrations that characterise them. Text of the constitution is clearly sorted. For example, if you are not sure about some terms you often read about in news, here they are explained.

 

 

 

 

“I knew the constitution only marginally, I still remembered something from high school, but when I started reading it again and talking about it with lawyers and friends, I found out what it actually is like and that when we talk about what values our society should stand on, it’s already all written there,” says Adam Berka.

 

He spoke to the illustrator Andrej Kolenčík and graphic designer Boris Meluš. He read the whole text, consulted with the lawyers and started to choose quotes and parts which he found especially important, interesting or even funny. The constitution consists of the Preamble and nine parts, in the book it is divided into each section by illustrations and highlighted quotes. “The illustrations have simple clear lines, but they can be read with multiple meanings. I wanted them to have a bit of irony. The constitution contains lots of nice thoughts and values, but the practice in our country is often different. And we tried to show that” says Adam Berka.

 

 

 

Adam already knows the document to detail now, he spent several months on it. He says it was more than useful. For example, he finally knows how justice exactly works, or that if you decide to become an astronaut, you have full right to do so according to the constitution.

 

“Everyday we meet with many terms we don’t know completely. For example, I never knew exactly how prosecutor’s office works, what exactly the judicial council does, what people it consists of, their relationship between supreme court, constitution court or control office. Very interesting is the part about human rights, many  don’t know about about some elemental things and yet they stand by their side and protect them.” says Berka

 

 

 

According to him some paragraphs can be read philosophically, like the one about the protection of human home. “It talks about how no one has the right to enter your home, not flat or house, but your home. That can mean anybody and at the same time it’s not just a place you must own. So you are not only protected by ownership right, and that’s good to know,” he adds.

 

 

Parallel part of publishing of the illustrated constitution will be posters and a memory game.