The facility, much of which is in a state of ruin, makes for a fascinating tour – one that is sadly being erased as we speak. The campus of Eastern State is soon to be the campus of Bluegrass Community & Technical College, and the hospital is relocating to a new facility on Newtown Pike in 2013.

As the area around the hospital has developed over the past 200 years, buried remains have been unearthed, some on as many as three occasions, and laid to rest in a mass grave at the rear of the grounds. It’s estimated that 4,400 hospital residents are buried there, in a plot that makes a football field look like Arlington Cemetery.

Artists at Latitude will pay respects to these 4400 souls on Friday with a performance and visual art project that offers 4400 apologies.

4400 Apologies uses art to illuminate our disregard for the remains of patients from Eastern State Hospital’s history.

At the Eastern State Hospital Cemetery at 11 a.m. and at the courtyard of the Downtown Public Library at 1 p.m., artist Erin Fitzgerald will remember and acknowledge the lives of these mentally ill patients with a ritual anchored by a string of 4400 cards created by artists at Latitude, many of whom live with disabilities.

Each apology bears the thumbprint of an artist at Latitude.

For more information, contact Latitude at Latitudearts [at] yahoo [dot] com. This project was completed with help from the Florence Crittenton Home.