Ćosić, Bora, editor, and Slobodan Mašić, designer.

[FLUXUS IN YUGOSLAVIA – BELGRADE NEO-AVANT-GARDE] Rok: časopis za književnost, umetnost i estetičko ispitivanje stvarnosti [a magazine for literature, art and the aesthetic examination of reality], nos. 1, 2, 3, 4a (all published).

Belgrade: Nezavisno autorsko izdanje, 1969–70. Square quartos (26 × 26 cm), the third issue octavo (20.2 × 13.8 cm), and the final issue with differently sized gatherings. Original perfect-bound and stapled wrappers (wrappers of the first issue printed on blue plastic); 130, 146, 110 (with 16 pp. photographic essay), and 32 pp. respectively. Illustrations throughout, including foldout elements, full-page photographic spreads, typographic experimentation on different weight stock, printing on multicolored stock, and foldout poster inlays. Wrappers detatched from block of the first two issues. Light soil and creasing to fourth issue, with a small mark in blue ink to front wrapper. Overall about very good. Item #55382

Complete run of this neo-avant-garde pro-Fluxus magazine, edited by the Serbo-Croatian and Yugoslav writer, translator, and dissident Bora Ćosić (b. 1932). The first two issues, designed by Slobodan Mašić, include articles on Fluxus artists and re-prints of Dada works. The third issue contains a video essay and extensive discussion of Želimir Žilnik’s film “Rani Radovi” (Early Works), which dealt with the Yugoslav Student protests of 1968, and won the Golden Bear at Berlinale in 1969. The final issue, released in the smallest print run of only 500, is designed as a kind of artist book by one of the most prominent Yugoslav neo-avant-garde artists Vujica Rešin Tucić (1941–2009). In addition to Ćosić, the Rok editorial board included the poet and literary critic Mica Danojlić, journalist and human rights activist Mirko Klarin, artist and experimental musician Vladan Radanović, and the poet and editor Mirjana Stefanović.

Starting with his translation of the Russian futurists, Bora Ćosić was one of the first to research historical avant-gardes in Yugoslavia, publishing the first reprints of the Dadaist magazines "Dada Tank" and "Dada Jazz." Ćosić also edited independent magazines throughout the 1960s for which he produced experimental writing, culminating in the present issues of Rok. Art historian Miško Šuvaković writes: “In the theoretical sense and in terms of concept, Rok was the pinnacle of the Belgrade neo-avant-garde, joining together, within the integral context of a magazine, experiments in literature, essay, poetry, painting, and music, referencing the international strategies of neo-Dada and Fluxus” (See Dubravka Djurić and Miško Šuvaković eds. Impossible Histories: Historical Avant-Gardes, Neo-avant-gardes, and Post-avant-gardes in Yugoslavia, 1918–1991, p. 28). Ćosić rose to become a prominent and award-winning literary figure through his work as a novelist, a playwright, a dialog writer for films, and a translator. He also published texts in various magazines and held readings throughout Europe. Following the collapse of Yugoslavia, Ćosić—an opponent of Serbian policies—went into voluntary exile by moving to Berlin in 1992.

The designer of the first two volumes, Slobodan Mašić (1939–2016) gave the volumes their strong visual character. Mašić also designed special issues of the new left student journal "Susret" (1968), posters and publications for the famous Student Art Centre in Belgrade, collaborated with the avant-garde theatre Atelje 212 and the BITEF theatre festival. In addition to his design work, Mašić established Nezavisna izdanja [Independent publications], becoming a well-known independent publisher of dissident writings in the 1980s (See: Jasna Dragović-Soso, “Saviors of the Nation: Serbia's Intellectual Opposition and the Revival of Nationalism”, 2003). Celebrated as one of the “most significant artists and publishers who shaped visual communications in Serbia and Yugoslavia over the past half century”, the exhibition “Mašić: Retrospective Exhibition of Visual Communication” was held in Belgrade in 2018 and in Paris in 2021.

As of November 2025, KVK, OCLC show only three complete runs in North America, with additional institutions holding scattered issues.

Price: €3,500.00

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