Vlado Martek

Vlado Martek (born in 1951 in Zagreb, Croatia) is a conceptual artist, poet, and writer whose work develops at the intersection of visual art, philosophy, and poetry. He studied literature and philosophy at the University of Zagreb and, since the mid-1970s, has developed a distinctive artistic practice based on the exploration of language, writing, and the possibilities of poetry beyond traditional literary forms.

In 1975, he became one of the founding members of the Group of Six Authors, whose public interventions and alternative exhibition formats played a significant role in the development of conceptual art in the former Yugoslavia. His oeuvre encompasses drawings, collages, artists’ books, photography, performances, posters, text-based works, and poetic actions. A central aspect of his practice is the concept of “pre-poetry,” through which he investigates the relationship between thought, language, and artistic creation.

Martek has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe and internationally, and his works are represented in important public and private collections. He is widely regarded as a key figure in conceptual art and experimental poetry within the post-Yugoslav cultural context.

Over more than five decades of artistic practice, Martek has developed a distinctive artistic language in which poetry emerges as a visual, social, and political act, dissolving the boundaries between literature, art, and everyday life.