Arts | All stories

In June, Prague will see the arrival of a new music festival called Metronome. The announcement this week made many headlines not least because organisers have confirmed a number of excellent acts including legendary American performer Iggy Pop.

Czech fashion designers from Prague’s Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM), headed by curator Pavel Ivančic, won the main prize this week at London’s International Fashion Showcase. The event is part of London Fashion Week. The Czech installation, titled ‘Last Fata Morgana’ is the work of seven designers.

A lost composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri was recently discovered in the archives of the Czech Museum of Music in Prague. On Tuesday, the re-discovered cantata was performed to the public for the first time in years.

In today’s Arts we talk with a French Prague-based game designer Axel Droxler. He is the lead designer on two titles for the independent studio Dreadlocks, the popular debut Dex – set in a cyberpunk world – and the upcoming Ghost Theory, in which players take the roles of ghost hunters.

Prague’s Pop Art Museum in Husova Street recently launched a new exhibition mapping the history of Apple computers which changed the world and the impact of visionary Steve Jobs. On view, are key devices from the original Apple I by Stephen Wozniak, to the Macintosh, to the iMac. Some of the items on display are rare limited editions only ever produced in the hundreds or several thousands.

The Prague-based Spitfire Company is a highly-respected artistic ensemble producing some of the most cutting-edge theatre in the Czech Republic. Last autumn, the ensemble made headlines with the premiere of Vladimir Macbetin which we look at in this edition of the Arts.

The UK's Second Run DVD recently celebrated 10 years of existence and 100 releases. About a quarter of the reissue company’s titles have been Czechoslovak films, ranging from the relatively famous Intimate Lighting by Ivan Passer to Adelheid, a lesser known work by František Vláčil, director of the classic Marketa Lazarová. When I met the company’s founder Mehelli Modi at a busy London café I wanted to know how he selects the Czechoslovak movies he released. As he explained, it all springs from his own passion for film.

A festival called Praha žije hubdou is aiming to bring music to the streets of Prague next spring. If the project goes ahead, professionals and amateurs alike will help culturally transform the city for a day, but organisers will have to reach their proposed target in a current crowdfunding campaign. Jan Gregar of the NGO Nerudný Fest told me more about the project and about busking in Prague.

Prague recently saw the return of robots in Café Neu Romance, an annual festival held at the National Technical Library celebrating robots and artistic performance. I met with the festival’s founder Christian Gjørret to discuss how this year’s edition went and have him explain what it was all about.

The Aussie Film Fest opened at Prague’s Lucerna theatre on Thursday, with more days and more films in its second edition. This year, the festival is also being held in Bratislava and features a number of hits which saw premieres just recently.