The Prague Underground: Youth, Art, and Alternative Culture

This course offers a critical introduction to the key currents of Prague’s alternative and subcultural life, including autonomous venues, graffiti and street art, punk music, political art collectives, human-rights initiatives, and queer cultural festivals. Students will engage with the distinctive legacy of Czech pre-1989 underground culture and trace how samizdat practices evolved into contemporary zine production.
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Through seminal readings on the intersections of art and politics, subcultures, and protest movements, the course examines how “alternative” urban lives are formed and sustained in post-industrial society. Particular attention is paid to the political interpretations of youth subversion and to the mechanisms of power that such cultural practices expose or resist. Lectures are complemented by visual materials and field trips to graffiti hotspots, autonomous spaces, and other significant subcultural sites, offering students an embodied understanding of Prague’s dynamic alternative scenes.

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