The project, with partners in Vietnam, India, the United States, Ghana and Ukraine, examines the numerous ways in which Czechs were involved in the European colonial project, during the Habsburg Empire, the interwar Republic of Czechoslovakia, and the socialist Czechoslovak state.

There were no Czech colonies, but with European colonial empires being a near ubiquitous feature of the world from the mid-19th century, it was almost impossible for Czechs not to be caught up in the colonial order as they engaged with cultures beyond Europe. The project explores the different ways in which they were involved, and on how this was reflected in focusing on visual culture, architecture and design. Many Czechs were critics of European imperialism, and they identified with peoples, such as Native Americans or African Americans, who were its victims. Others, however, actively supported it, harbouring fantasies about colonizing overseas territories such as Tahiti or Togo, or acting as agents in support of European imperial powers.

These attitudes were reflected in Czech culture; Czechs worked as architects and designers in colonial possessions abroad, and Czech design and visual culture was populated with exoticizing stereotypes of colonized peoples that would not have looked out of place in Paris, London or any one of the many other imperial metropolises.

Under socialism, Czechoslovakia was officially committed to a policy of anti-colonial solidarity with the peoples of the so-called Global South, yet, the project asks, how far was this reflected in actual practices. Was it embraced by designers, artists and architects, or was it merely a matter of political rhetoric? Finally, the project also examines how colonialism shaped how Czechs viewed minorities within Czechoslovakia. Slovakia was often referred to as the Czech Tahiti, and Slovaks complained about being colonized by Czechs. How far was this borne out by the historical evidence, and how did Czechs view other minorities, such as the Ruthenians and the Roma? Moreover, how did the experience of the colonial world shape how Czechs viewed themselves?