Vlado Martek

Vlado Martek (born 1951) is a Croatian artist whose work is based on visualising poetry. In his art pieces he works with poems and fragments of poems by putting them into collages, photographs, plots, graphics, sketches, drawings, art actions and agitations, graffiti and wallpapers. Vlado Martek lives in Zagreb, where he works as a librarian since 1979.

Life and work
Vlado Martek was born in Zagreb (SR Croatia) where he studied philosophy and literature at Zagreb University. In the early 1970s Martek wanted more than writing poems. The first work he installed in public was a wallpaper-action with the photographer Željko Jerman and the art-student Boris Demur. In 1975 he founded the Group of Six Artists (Grupa šestorice autora) with Mladen and Sven Stilinović, Fedor Vučemilović, Boris Demur and Željko Jerman. Active until 1979, they performed over 20 art pieces in Zagreb and launched the magazine MAJ/75 (1978 – 1984).

Martek`s work is based on the discourse between art, philosophy and poetry. He is working with the negation and construction of words to create a reality behind the letters. He describes his work as Pre-poetry - the reduction and concentration of poem. In his own words: ''“Pre-poetry is controlling, an evasion into space before writing, controlling my head, my motives as to why I write, my responsibility, a tidying up before I write a poem. In that sense it is a provocation in language, by destruction but also construction.“'' Martek uses critical, ironic and analytic methods to question social structures in combination with a wide range of media and materials.

Solo exhibitions

 * 2014: Piktogramska abeceda, Galerija Galženica, Velika Gorica
 * 2012: The Power of Support / Die Kraft des Untergrunds, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin
 * 2011: Lisez Mallarmé, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris
 * 2010: Poetry in Action, Galerie P – 74, Ljubljana & Gallery Kraljević, Zagreb
 * 2008: Retrospective, Modern Gallery, Zagreb
 * 2004: Small Exhibition, Mala Galerija, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana
 * 1998: Samizdats, City Library, Zagreb
 * 1996: Troubles with the Content, Galerie Zvonimir, Zagreb; Troubles with Ethics, Š-O-U-Galerija Kapelica, Ljubljana
 * 1988: Arbeiten auf Papier, Galerie Ingird Dacić, Tübingen
 * 1985: Vlado Martek - Hermafroditski bojevnik, Galerija Skuc, Ljubljana
 * 1984: Vlado Martek, Galerija Skuc, Ljubljana
 * 1982: (Pre)poetry environment, Studio Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
 * 1980: Book-Work (with Mladen Stilinovic), Galerie Studentskog centra, Zagreb
 * 1979: Elementary processes in poetry, Podroom, Zagreb

Group exhibitions

 * 2012: The Present and Presence, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana
 * 2011: MULTIPLIZIEREN IST MENSCHLICH, Edition Block, Berlin
 * 2010: You Are Kindly Invited To Attend, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin
 * 2009: Who killed the Painting ?, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, Bremen
 * 2005: Collective Creativity, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
 * 2003: In den Schluchten des Balkan, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel
 * 2002: In Search of Balkania, Neue Galerie, Graz
 * 2000: Chinese Whispers, Apex Art Gallery, New York
 * 1999: Aspekte / Positionen, Museum Moderner Kunst SLW, Wien
 * 1993: The Horse who Sings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
 * 1990: Zeichen im Fluss, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Wien
 * 1976 :Confrontation, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Literature

 * Djuric, Dubravka – Suvakovis, Misko (Hrsg.): Impossible Histories: Historic Avant-Gardes, Neo-Avant-Gardes, and Post-Avant-Gardes in Yugoslavia, 1918–1991, 2003, ISBN 0262042169.
 * Martek, Vlado: Volim Citati Poeziju, Zabreb 2001, ISBN 9536010941.
 * Martek, Vlado: Predpoezija, Zagreb 2008, ISBN 953-734209-3.
 * Martek, Vlado, Akcije pisanja, Zagreb 1997, ISBN 953-6010-48-8.
 * Stipančić, Branka: Vlado Martek – Poezija u akciji / Poetry in Action, Zagreb 2010.