Residency: Karel Veselý

Karel Vesely (1976) is a music journalist, pop culture theorist and novelist. 

He studied philosophy and English studies at FF MU, Brno, graduated with a master´s degree in 2001. 

Since 2008 he works as a freelance journalist writing for various Czech periodicals, both printed (A2, Respekt, Salon) and online (Aktulane, Alarm). He is currently an editor at Full Moon Magazine and works with Czech Broadcasting Service – Radio Wave. In 2010 he published book Hudba ohne – a lengthy survey of so-called black music history, in 2017 his first novel BombaFUNK was published to critical acclaim. (It was shortlisted for the Ceska kniha award and got a special mention award at Miloslav Svandrlik Award). He collaborated on a bestselling book Kmeny (2011) about Czech subcultures, which span two sequels and TV documentary series. He co-wrote Japanese pop-culture study Planeta Nippon (2017), which was shortlisted for Magnesia Litera Book Awards in the non-fiction category. 

His professional interest includes contemporary pop and alternative music and the influence of subcultures and modern technology on pop culture. He is also concerned about the intersection between arts and politics/society. 

Currently, he is working on a podcast series and a subsequent book about anxiety and depression in western popular music called Black Sun. It surveys the way contemporary music reflects changes in our society. Chapters discuss the history of male and female emotions in genres such as rock, rap or post-punk, the rise of sadness in contemporary pop or the reactions of pop culture to the financial crisis of 2008. A six-part podcast is being published monthly at www.institutuzkosti.cz in the second half of 2018. The book is supposed to get published in 2020.

The project is realized with the support of the City of Prague and Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic