Vlado Martek Biography
Vlado Martek was born in Zagreb, and graduated from the University of Zagreb with a degree in literature and philosophy. By vocation Martek is a multimedia conceptual artist, poet and writer, and his oeuvre includes actions, agitations, ambiances, murals, graffiti, texts on his own art and on other artists, prints, art postcards, sculptures, poetic objects, paintings, art books and staged photography. Martek’s work can primarily be seen as avant-garde poetry. In this, he follows the tradition of other authors working in experimental poetry in the 20th century, standing opposed to the dominant lyrical paradigm of European literature.
From 1975 to 1978 Martek was a member of informal art group, Grupa šestorice (Group of Six), and with them he organised a number of exhibitions and art actions, as well as launching the magazine/catalogue MAJ/75 (1978 – 1984). In this early period of intensive activity, Martek started to exhibit his works in alternative galleries in Zagreb, including Podrum (Basement) and Proširena medija (Extended Media), and since then his works have been shown in numerous exhibitions around the world.
Martek’s work has become so prominent in Croatia that Professor Miško Šuvaković wrote a study on his art, called “Martek, fatalne figure umjetnika: Eseji o umjetnosti i kulturi XX. stoljeća u jugoistiočnoj, istočnoj i srednjoj Europi kroz djelo(vanje) umjetnika Vlade Marteka” (Martek, Artist’s Fatal Figures: Essays on Art and Culture of the 20th Century in Southeastern, Eastern and Middle Europe Through the Work of Artist Vlado Martek), which was published in 2002 by Meandar, in Martek’s hometown of Zagreb.
One of the concepts Martek is most interested in is that of pre-poetry, or the idea that poetry is not a finished, isolated work, but rather comes through the poet, and through the actual conceptualising and writing process. Consequently, Martek is suspicious of the poetry book or collection, considering it to be an artificially ‘complete’ form. Instead, he has published twenty-two samizdat books of pre-poetry to date, which are hand-bound collage works consisting of drawings, prints, photos and poetry, and which he distributes himself.
Evo, sada sam zaštićen
alibijem poezije,
pišem pjesmu.
I potreba za smislom
daje mi veliki kredit
za cik-cak pisanje.
A neću, ipak, koristiti eksponente
kolektivne zaštite
uskličnik, upitnik, prekid.
Koristit ću patnju. Tegobu Zapadnog Balkana.
Otkud raspoloženje nego od stizanja:
za vrijeme češljanja stigla je knjiga:
Presecanje haosa. Na elegantan način
postala je dio frizure.
Tako jest: Jedna knjiga, Jedna pjesma,
Jedan žuđeni put.
Osjećam da je zaštita - prošlost, i
čuvam emociju maske.
Iživio sam svoju umjetničku snagu. To
ne stane u zlokobnu kutiju
mimo radne sreće.
...
*
tumarati se jezikom može
bez kraja.
Zauzeti stav znači ponuditi
predpjesmu čiji sadržaj
ispunjavaju/nose uvjeti, stavovi,
materijali, alati, podloge svojim
značenjima.
*
Svako uzimanje
pisaljke u ruku
čin je poštenja
*
Povlačim se iz svih
pjesama, da bih bio odgovoran
za buduću pjesmu, načinjenu
u radu na poeziji
*
Priprema je pjesma
je predpjesma
*
tri slobode slobode
slobode
*
ja tri puta godišnje
mijenjam mišljenje
o poeziji
*
jedan pjesnik
manje jedan pjesnik
jednako ništa pjesnika
*
jedna dvije tri četiri
pet šest sedam osam
devet deset jedanaest
dvanaest trinaest
četrnaest petnaest
šesnaest sedamnaest
osamnaest riječi pjesme
*
u Hrvatskoj ima
121 stari pjesnik
i 239 mladih pjesnika
*
tristo šezdeset metafora podijeljeno
sa osamnaest pjesnika jednako
dvadeset metafora i jedan pjesnik
*
tri do pet sadržaja
plus pet sadržaja
jednako osam do
deset sadržaja
*
23. patnja
*
šteta
što je poezija
sve
*
ovdje počiva gola riječ
samo rukom i mašinom
zapisana,
ja joj ne izmislih
budućnost
*
državo, unakazit
ću te poezijom
*
odričem se
metafore
*
da sam pjesma
bio bih ptica
*
ja se zalažem za poeziju
a vi je samo pišete
...
*
you can wander through language
endlessly.
To have an attitude means to offer
a model: the pre-poem and its content
fulfil/carry conditions, attitudes,
materials, tools, backgrounds with its
meanings.
*
Every grasping
of a pen in hand
is an act of honesty
*
I withdraw myself from all
poems, ready to be responsible
for the future poem, created
through work on poetry
*
Preparation is a poem
is a pre-poem
*
three freedoms freedoms
freedoms
*
I change my opinion
about poetry
three times every year
*
one poet
minus one poet
equals zero poets
*
one two three four
five six seven eight
nine ten eleven
twelve thirteen
fourteen fifteen
sixteen seventeen
eighteen words in poem
*
in Croatia there are
121 old poets
and 239 young poets
*
three hundred metaphors divided
by eighteen poets equals
twenty metaphors and one poet
*
three to five subjects
plus five subjects
equals eight to
ten subjects
*
23rd torment
*
it's a pity
everything is
poetry
*
here lies a naked word
written
only with hand and machine,
I have not created
a future for it
*
state, I'll disfigure
you with poetry
*
I renounce
metaphor
*
if I were a poem
I would be a bird
*
I stand for poetry
and you only write it
...
Odričem se jedne svoje napisane
pjesme, s ovom pjesmom rušeći
sadržaje patnji u pratnju
jeziku. Sunce je ujutro
veće od nas, najidealnijih bez djela.
I nek je bolje ovo slično pjesmi od
najviše idealne prisutne u samom jeziku.
Jer sve što sam rekao
dijelom već biva njihova priča i zadnja
je riječ na to: poezija. Sada
me se nada pjesnik.
...
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