[ARTIST BOOK OF THE YUGOSLAV NEO-AVANT-GARDE] Prevrednovanje poezije, pripremanje za poeziju, predpoezija [Re-evaluation of poetry, preparation for poetry, pre-poetry].
Zagreb: Prostor proširenih medija, 1981. Octavo (21.2 × 15.4 cm). Original side-stapled printed wrappers; [24] pp. with printed text, handwritten lines in pencil, paper cutouts, pasted-in, inscribed paper, and a pasted-in pencil. Front wrapper slightly rubbed, else very good. Item #55363
The very rare artist’s book by the Croatian Neo-Avant-Garde artist Vlado Martek, who is associated with his involvement in the Group of Six Artists (šestorice autora), which participated in exhibitions and projects at alternative art spaces such as “Podroom” (The Cellar) (1979–1980) and “Prostor proširenih medija” (The Expanded Media Space), later renamed “Gallery PM.” Following an open-air exhibition organized in May 1975 in Zagreb along the Sava River, Martek and the Group of Six Artists published the art journal Mai 75. Each issue was produced by hand as a multiple in an edition of only 100 to 200 copies. Martek produced the first issue of the series together with experimental filmmaker Mladen Stilinović. In parallel, the six artists, who, in addition to Martek and Stilinović, included painter Boris Demur and photographers Željko Jerman, Sven Stilinović, and Fedor Vučemilović, held further exhibitions in squares, on streets, by the sea, in university buildings, courtyards, and private homes. (Cf. Darko Šimičič, From Zenit to Mental Space, in: Impossible histories: historical avant-gardes, neo-avant-gardes, and post-avant-gardes in Yugoslavia, 1918–1991, pp. 324–326).
A collection of Martek's writings in English, by Ainsley Morse and Branislav Jakovljević, is forthcoming in October 2026. The volume is titled "Pre-Poetry", which the editors describe as an ars poetics "combin[ing] minimalism and conceptualism in a theoretically-driven wrestling match between the materiality of writing and the metaphysics of poetry."
As of August 2026, no copies located via KVK, OCLC.
Price: €950.00