Martina Grlić in conversation with Marko Zeman
Join us on Thursday, November 6, at 7 PM, for a conversation between artists Martina Grlić and Marko Zeman, focusing on Grlić’s work and the concepts behind the current exhibition Saccharine Idyll.
Trotoar Talks is a series of discussions with artists, curators, and their guests related to exhibitions from the Trotoar program. Recordings of previous talks are available for listening on our SoundCloud channel.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Martina Grlić (b. 1982, Zagreb) is a Croatian artist whose practice centres on figurative painting and the narrative potential of the image. Her work explores the introspective layers of memory and
socio-historical legacies, engaging with the politics of remembrance, modes of image interpretation, and gender aspects. Through ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches, she reimagines everyday objects tied to female experience, transforming them into compelling visual compositions. Grlić’s paintings explore identity in post-socialist contexts, merging clear memories with surreal elements to prompt reflection on personal and cultural histories.
Grlić graduated with an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb, Croatia. She has exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Kunstlerhaus, Vienna; Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China, and the National Museum, Gdansk, Poland. Among her solo exhibitions are Memory Projects (Fragment Gallery, New York, 2024), Mindscapes (Galerija Bačva, HDLU, Zagreb, 2022; Kibla, Maribor, 2023), Hypermnesia (Lauba, Zagreb, 2021; Fragment Gallery, Moscow, 2021), Distinct Realities (Potemka Galerie, Leipzig, 2019), Memory and Conflict (Karas, 2018), and Collective Dreams (Galerija Kranjčar, Zagreb, 2017). Her works are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Erste Bank, and the Zuzāns Collection in Riga. She lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia.
Marko Zeman (born 1975, Zagreb, Croatia) is a visual artist working primarily in the medium of painting, but also in the media of drawing, collage, and posters. He is interested in the exploration of form and the painting process, instinctively using various materials in his works. He frequently depicts his immediate surroundings, his personal perception of everyday and ordinary motifs, doing so with a subtle dose of humour.
He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb under Zlatko Keser, and graduated in 2010, under Zoltan Novak. He has been exhibiting his work continuously since 2008, and has held solo exhibitions at the Varaždin City Museum (2024), the Croatian Association of Artists’ Karas Gallery in Zagreb (2020), the Močvara club in Zagreb (2020), and the SC Gallery in Zagreb (2013), among others. He was an award winner at the 7th Biennial of Painting in 2024, and won the HPB (Croatian Postal Bank) purchase prize in 2009. His works belong to the collections of the Varaždin City Museum, the HPB, the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, the Erste Fragments in Zagreb, and private collections. In addition to his work as an artist, he is also engaged in design and pedagogical work. He currently teaches at the Academy of Fine Art in Zagreb, Croatia.