A critical introduction to the life and work of Yugoslav modernist and conceptual art’s foremost exponent

Ješa Denegri (born 1936) has been the most influential historian and theorist of Yugoslav modernist art of the 1950s and 1960s. Yet despite recent international interest in Yugoslav modernist and conceptual art, his critical writing and curatorial work has remained in relative obscurity.

This volume positions Denegri’s foundational role in the narrative on Yugoslav art. The backbone of the book is an extended conversation with Denegri that looks beyond his critical impact and into artistic circles in 1960s–'70s Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Novi Sad. The work of the most influential artists and artistic groups in Yugoslavia—Mangelos, OHO Group, Tom Gotovac, Mladen Stlinovic, Marina Abramovic, Raša Todosijevic, Sanja Ivekovic, Braco Dimitrijevic—and some still less known for international audiences, such as Radomir Damnjanovic and Goran Trbuljak, are discussed. This first comprehensive survey of Denegri’s life and work also features a postface by German theorist Boris Groys.