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The Oriental Institute (OI) of the Czech Academy of Sciences is celebrating 100 years of existence this year. One of the oldest institutions dedicated to the study of Oriental cultures in Central and Eastern Europe, the OI has played its part in furthering not just domestic but also worldwide knowledge about Asian cultures, languages and history. Marking the occasion, the institute has organised several events profiling its work for the ongoing Week of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

A joint show presenting the youngest generation of fashion designers from Czechia and Belgium is due to take place in Brussels on Saturday. The event, called WE’RE NEXT BRUSSELS, is part of a day dedicated to Czech culture and is organised by Czech Centre Brussels. I asked its director, Jitka Pánek Jurková, to tell me more about it:

On the backdrop of the ongoing Czech EU presidency, a special exhibition titled: “Design and transformation. Stories of Czech design 1990-2020” is currently on display at the Design Museum Brussels. The exhibition serves not just as an opportunity to show beautiful Czech designs and the stories of selected brands, but also as a much-needed call for a unified strategy of how to present Czech product design abroad. I spoke to one of the key figures behind the exhibition - the Vice-Rector of the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague Radek Sidun.

The Mucha exhibition which opened in July at Prague’s Waldstein Riding School has proven so popular that it has been extended until the end of the year, although it was originally slated to close on Monday. Marcus Mucha, the great-grandson of the famous artist, led Radio Prague’s Till Janzer around the exhibition.

New documentary The Investigator follows one-time Prague detective Vladimír Dzuro as he returns to former Yugoslavia, where he made a groundbreaking 1997 war crimes arrest after helping uncover a grisly mass killing. The film had its world premiere at the Jihlava documentary film festival, where I asked its young Czech director Viktor Portel what had drawn him to the subject.

A faithful replica of the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, Czechia’s most famous archaeological find, went on sale on Tuesday at the Moravian Museum in Brno. The current model is much more accurate than any of the previous ones. The prototype for the mould from which the copies were cast was based on CT scans of the original.

One of the highlights of this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival was the Czech premiere of Darkening (Tmání), a film by Ondřej Moravec that explores depression – via virtual reality. Headsets are used for Darkening, with several viewers experiencing it at the same time. I spoke to the director of the interactive, very personal film, which had its world premiere in Venice.

Prim watches, which started to be produced more than 70 years ago, are one of the most famous Czech trademarks. For many people in Czechia, who grew up during the Communist regime, the brand is synonymous with wristwatches. Today, Prim watches are produced by two separate companies, which have been fighting over the trademark for more than two decades.

A Czech government delegation led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala has returned from Kyiv, following a day of talks with their Ukrainian counterparts and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The trip was intended to express support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia and in its ambitions to join the EU and NATO.

Data released by Eurostat on Monday show that Czechia saw the sharpest year-on-year rise in electricity prices out of all EU member states in the first half of 2022 (+62%). The average cost of electricity for Czechs was the sixth highest in the EU and higher than in any other Visegrad Four state (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). I asked ENA analyst and executive director of the Association of Independent Energy Suppliers Jiří Gavor why this was the case.