The Marinko Sudac Collection, based in Zagreb, Croatia, has been created with a clear collecting strategy based on the region of Central and Eastern Europe, additionally spanning from the Baltic area to the Black Sea. The guiding principle of the Collection is systematic exploration, researching, and promotion of the avant-garde practices which have been marginalized, forbidden, and at times completely negated due to the historical, social and political circumstances. In this context, the Marinko Sudac Collection gives the most complete and comprehensive overview on the art of this region. The Collection starts at 1909, and it show the continuity from the first Avant-Gardes, through neo-avant-garde and New Artistic Practices, ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The global uniqueness of the Marinko Sudac Collection is also seen in the kind of media it contains. It contains not only traditional artworks, such as paintings, sculptures, and photographs, but it gives equal importance to documentary and archival material. Great importance is put on these almost forgotten media, which enable research of specific phenomena, artists and the socio-political situation which affected this type of art. The Collection contains a great number of museological units, and it treats the documentary and archival material on the same level as traditional artworks. By examining the units contained in the Marinko Sudac Collection, one can read not only the art scene or the art production of a certain artist, but the full status of the society, the socio-political atmosphere of the region in which this art was created in.
This Collection is not merely a process of gathering artworks, but a contextualisation of the art of region in the global history of art and an effort of putting it on its deserved place in history. The aim of the Marinko Sudac Collection is to preserve the cultural heritage of the Central and Eastern European region from globalisation, by maintaining it in a contextual unity. The end goal is to place the Collection in an architectural, physical building of the Museum of Avant-Garde, in which this art will be valorised, museologically processed, open to researchers and experts, and presented to the public. A part of the works from the Marinko Sudac Collection is available in digital form on an innovative platform of the Virtual Museum of Avant-Garde (www.avantgarde-museum.com/en), which unites the work of the Virtual Museum of the Avant-Garde, the Marinko Sudac Collection, and the Institute for the Research of the Avant-Garde, with a goal to form a central database for the researching of the phenomena of the Avant-Garde. The Marinko Sudac Foundation was established in 2022.
Alongside more than 170 already accomplished successful collaborations with museum institutions and independently organized exhibition in great museum centres such as Tate Modern, London; Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Haus der Kunst, Munich; ZKM, Karlsruhe, Deutsches Filmmuseum Frankfurt, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb,... or exhibitions of the Collection in unofficial places such as Marshall Josip Broz Tito's boat Seagull (At Standstill exhibition, Rijeka, 2011), Marinko Sudac is also an editor of numerous publications – art monographs, exhibition catalogues and collections of texts, and an author of a successful artist residence project Artist on Vacation, held annually since 2012, which hosted over 90 of the leading world artists which continue the tradition of the Avant-Garde.
Collection strategy The Collection's interest extends from the Baltic area to the Black Sea, with particular emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe. The collector's strategy is directed towards systematic exploration, research, and promotion of Avant-Garde practices that have been marginalized, forbidden, and at times completely rejected, due to historical, social and political circumstances. In this respect, the Collection is, in relation to already existing European art collections, regionally cohesive, and presents an inexhaustible resource for the research of Avant-Garde art and a dynamic platform for the exchange of knowledge on the phenomenon of Avant-Garde. This can be seen in numerous topical and retrospective exhibitions, organised events, followed by connected detailed publications or studies, articles in professional journals, some published in the framework of research projects and collaborations with numerous important institutions, experts, theoreticians, art historians, and artists from the entire world.
Museum of Avant-Garde The Virtual Museum of Avant-Garde, based on the Marinko Sudac Collection, was created in 2009. It presents the digital database of the Collection through which you can see the overview of Avant-Garde art in the countries of former Yugoslavia structured according to authors, artworks, time periods, and geographical areas, as well as links and influences of the artists with cultural happenings and artistic centers in the region and the world. The website, beside the high-quality digitized artworks, contains biographies and bibliographies, alongside the connection of the artists with other artists, art institutions and cultural forums, as well as selected publications.
The online database show only a small part of the Collection. Speedy digitization of the material is crucial to accomplish the Museum's main aim, which is to make it a centre for information on the regional Avant-Garde practices.
The Virtual Museum of Avant-Garde is a free online platform to research all forms of Avant-Garde art of Eastern and Central Europe, to show connection with the rest of the world, to be a place for free thought and presenting the relevant cultural phenomena of Avant-Garde thought and artistic doing, to be a space for creating and publishing expert materials and research on the phenomena of the Avant-Garde. In its work, the Virtual Museum of Avant-Garde managed to become a meeting point of experts and intellectuals from the region and the artists, as well as interested public who can, in one place, find many information on the Avant-Garde movement in this area.
Artists in the Marinko Sudac Collection Source:
Former Yugoslavia 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Aleksandar Vučo
Andrija Maurović
Antun Branko Šimić
Antun Motika
Avgust Černigoj
Boško Tokin
Branko Ve Poljanski
Čedomil Plavšić
Csuka Zoltán
Dada Tank
Dragan Aleksić
Dušan Matić
Eduard Stepančič
Franjo Fius
Ivan Goll
Ivana Tomljenović Meller
Janko Polić Kamov
Jo Klek
Ljubiša Jocić
Ljubomir Micić
Marijan Mikac
Marko Ristić
Mihailo S. Petrov
Miho Schön
Oskar Davičo
Rade Drainac
Radovan Ivšić
Rastko Petrović
Salomon Monny de Boully
Srečko Kosovel
Stanislav Vinaver
Tank
Traveleri
UT
Vane Bor
Vilko Gecan
Željko Hegedušić
ZenitAleksandar Srnec
Božidar Jelenić
Božidar Rašica
Branko Vlahović
Dimitrije Bašičević Mangelos
Đuro Seder
Eugen Feller
EXAT 51
GEFF
Gorgona
Ivan Kožarić
Ivan Picelj
Ivo Gattin
Josip Vaništa
Jozef Ács
Julije Knifer
Juraj Dobrović
Koloman Novak
Marijan Jevšovar
Matko Meštrović
Mihovil Pansini
Miljenko Horvat
Pal Petrik
Petrik Pal
Radoslav Putar
Sava Simončić
Stipo Pranyko
Vjenceslav Richter
Vladimir Petek
Vlado Kristl
Vojin Bakić
Želimir ŽilnikAdresa Magazine
Andraž Šalamun
Ante Vukov
Attila Csernik
Autopsia
Bálint Szombathy
Bogdanka Poznanović
Bojan Brecelj
Boris Buċan
Boris Demur
Bosch+Bosch
Braco Dimitrijević
Crveni Peristil
D. Raša Todosijeviċ
David Nez
Drago Dellabernardina
Dragomir Ugren
Dubravko Budiċ
Era Milivojeviċ
Fedor Vučemilović
Franci Zagoričnik
Gera Urkom
Goran Trbuljak
Gorki Žuvela
Group of Six Authors
Igor Grubić
Ilija Šoškić
Ivan Volarič-Feo
Iztok Geister
Janez Kocijančič
Josip Stošić
Katalin Ladik
Kôd Group
László Kerekeš
László Szalma
Marijan Molnar
Marina Abramović
Marjan Ciglić
Marko Pogačnik
Matjaž Hanžek
Milenko Matanović
Mirko Radojčiċ
Mladen Stilinović
Naško Križnar
Neša Paripović
Nuša Dragan
OHO
Peđa Vranešević
Radomir Damnjanović-Damnjan
Raša Todosijević
Sanja Iveković
Slavko Bogdanović
Slavko Matkoviċ
Slobodan Tišma
Srečo Dragan
Sven Stilinović
The Šempas Family
Tok Group
Tomaž Šalamun
Tomislav Gotovac
Verbumprogram
Vladimir Gudac
Vladimir Kopicl
Vlado Martek
Vojin Kovač-Chubby
Željko Jerman
Željko Kipke
Živko Grozdanić
Zoran Popović
Hungary 1915–19461946–19681968–1989100% Farkas Molnár
Korunk
Lajos Kássak
MA
Munka
Sándor Bortyik
Tibor DéryIstván Nádler
Miklós Erdély
Imre BakAttila Pálfalusi Ferenc Ficzek
Gábor Attalai
Gyula Konkoly
János Sugár
Kálmán Szijártó
Károly Kismányoky
Károly Halász
László Haris
Pécsi Műhely
Sándor Pinczehelyi
Tamás St. Auby
György Galántai
Tibor Hajas
Gyula Pauer
Endre Tot
Tibor Csiky
Géza Pernecky
Dóra Maurer
Balatonboglár
György Jovánovics
Gyula Gulyás
Gábor Tóth
Tibor Gáyor
Czechoslovakia 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Red Odeon
Stavba
Karel Teige
Jindřich Štyrský
Vítězslav Nezval
Olymo
Josef Čapek
Otakar Mrkvička
Ladislav Sutnar
Jaromír FunkeVladimir Boudník Milan Grygar
Zdeněk Beran
Dalibor Chatrný
Milan Knížák
Eugen Brikcius
Jiří Kolář
Běla Kolářová
Stano FilkoMiroslav Klivar Jiří Valoch
Karel Miler
Jan Steklik
Jiří Palla
Jan Mlčoch
Petr Štembera
Jan Woynar
J. H. Kocman
Július Koller
Rudolf Sikora
Desider Tóth
Milan Adamčiak
Rudolf Fila
Juraj Meliš
Otis Laubert
Milan Dobeš
Poland 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Jerzy Bereś Jarosław Kozłowski
Józef RobakowskiZdzisław Sosnowski Andrzej Lachowicz
Natalia LL
Permafo Gallery
Teresa Tyszkiewicz
Lech Mrožek
Andrzej Partum
Ryszard Wasko
Russia 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Vladimir Mayakovski
LEFDvizhenie Lev Nussberg
Francisco Infante-Arana
Galina Bitt
Alexander Stepanov
Viacheslav Koleichuk
Anatoli Krivchikov
Viacheslav Shcherbakov
Yuri Lapokov
Vladimir Jankilevskij
Boris Diadorov
Aleksei Smirnov
Michail Grobman
Ernst Neizvestny
Viktor PivovarovDmitri Prigov
Oleg Kulik
United States 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Joseph Kosuth
John Cage
Fluxus
Ken Friedman
Philip Corner
Bruce Conner
Stan Brakhage
Nam June PaikTerry Fox
United Kingdom 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Gillian Wise
Romania 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Paul Neagu
Ukraine 1915–19461946–19681968–1989
Turkey 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Teoman Madra
The Netherlands 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Boegel & Holtappels
Italy 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Filippo Tommaso Marineti
Futurism
Gabriele D'AnnunzioPiero Manzoni
Azimuth
Pasquale Ninì Santoro
Nato Frascà
Francesco Guerrieri
Jorrit TornquistFranco VerdiLucia di Luciano Giovanni Pizzo
Franco Di Vito
Switzerland 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Dieter Roth
Germany 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Dada Almanah Richard Huelsenbeck
Kurt Schwitters
Lothar Schreyer
Der Strurm
Der Blau Reiter
Bauhaus
DadaKlaus Groh
Bulgaria 1915–19461946–19681968–1989
France 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Guillaume Apollinarire
Andre Breton
Denmark 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Eric Andersen
Austria 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Arnulf Rainer Renate Bertlmann
Finland 1915–19461946–19681968–1989Outi Heiskanen
Japan 1915–19461946–19681968–1989
Projects Since its beginning, the Marinko Sudac Collection has been open to collaboration with various institutions. Through the years, the works from the Collection have been exhibited both locally and internationally.
The collection has been recognised as a good partner and the growing interest in different types of collaborations (exhibitions, conferences, projects, movies, publications) shows the quality of the Collections and its open character.
List of independently organised projects
Baldo Diodato – Analytical Documentation of Urban Structures, Zuccato Gallery, Poreč, Croatia, 2025 Paolo Patelli: Painted Surfaces. Marinko Sudac Collection, Zuccato Gallery, Poreč, Croatia, 2024