Arts | All stories

Not far from the National Theatre, tucked away on Bartolomějská street, the small flagship store of the label Leeda boasts some of the most original, colorful and hip clothing in the Czech capital. Run by two young designers, Lucie Kutálková and Lucie Trnková, Leeda has been putting out its limited edition collections for nearly seven years. The two designers both studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Lucie Kutálková explains how the two were given a unique opportunity to establish their own label and retail space.

American jazz trumpet player Laco Deczi - born in Czechoslovakia – needs little introduction, especially for anyone familiar with the world of jazz. At 73, Deczi hasn’t let up one bit – most recently playing a month-long tour in his homeland. Despite a busy schedule, Laco took time off to come to Radio Prague’ studio; in this week’s Arts he discusses everything from life in New York to his spring tour.

It was almost two years ago that then-fresh graduate Nina Mainerová set out with a colleague to open a professional architectural studio. But soon after their launch, the bills piled up and they were forced to modify their plans. First, they began offering preparatory classes for students applying to university; then they extended their workshops to include drawing and painting.

It’s not every film student that gets his premiere at the International film festival in Berlin, to be sure, but such was the fortune of Olmo Omerzu, a FAMU graduate from Ljubljana, Slovenia, and our guest in this week’s Arts. His graduate film called A Night Too Young (Příliš mladá noc) had its world premiere in the Forum section of the Berlinale, which generally selects highly original, highly provocative works. A Night Too Young is both of those things: a story of a party of three consternated adults, shared by two twelve-year-old boys, who have

Bohdan Sláma, born in 1967, has long been described as one of the most important up & coming directors in the Czech Republic. The filmmaker received early recognition and acclaim for work like Wild Bees, Something Like Happiness and Country Teacher and has become known for a naturalistic social dramas with elements of comedy – a trademark he upholds in his latest movie Čtyri slunce (Four Suns), which had its US premiere earlier this year at Sundance and its European premiere at Rotterdam. On Thursday, after much anticipation, Four Suns opened in

Amanita Design is a Brno-based, award-winning game development studio whose creations have become a huge hit on the internet. Their games combine elements of the technical world with nature in a way not seen before. Their signature game, Samorost, takes you to a universe composed of rusty parts of old, derelict machines and mossy, gnarled stumps of rotting wood. In this edition of the Arts, we meet the studio’s founder Jakub Dvorský.

Prague is the city of hundred spires and countless historic sights, but what does it look like when you close your eyes? A new project called Favourite Sounds of Prague attempts to draw attention to the “soundscape” of the Czech capital, exploring how local people perceive the sounds that surround them. One of the fruits of the project will be an archive of sounds, something like an acoustic portrait of the city. The man behind the idea is British artist Peter Cusack, who has carried out similar projects in several cities across the world. The Czech

Helena Třeštíková, the country’s leading documentary maker, has released her latest project – a feature-length film titled "Soukromý vesmír”, which chronicles the life of one Czech family over a remarkable time span of 37 years. By adding archive TV footage and putting the family’s story into a wider context, the director was able to paint not just a family portrait, but also the portrait of a country.

The first show of the season opened last Friday at the Villa Becher Interactive Gallery in Karlovy Vary: called Sklo-Sklu-Sklem/Glas-Glaser-Am Glasersten the new exhibition is a first foray by a number of Czech and German colleagues (painters, photographers, filmmakers and designers) in working in glass.

Anyone familiar with the Czech electronic and dance music scene will have come across the work of Jitka Charvátová, also known as Ji, the charismatic and talented former singer for cutting edge groups like Skyline and the late Milan Hlavsa’s 1990s band Fiction. Now Jitka has reset her career with a recently released but already highly-lauded new solo album called Feed My Lion, featuring 8-bit, electro pop and elements of hip hop.