Born in 1948 in Varaždin, Croatia. Lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia.
Zagreb based artist Goran Trbuljak has been active since the late 1960s, in the context of conceptual art and the so-called New Art Practice. While searching from the very beginning for alternative means of production and representation of the artwork, Trbuljak has redefined the status of artistic context, asking radical questions about the autonomy of the system of museums and galleries and about the mechanism by which something is accepted as art. He tested the accidental as the key moment of creating work mechanism, organizing exhibitions in streets and hallways. For the artist a simple gesture could function as a critique of the artistic and social system. Still, there are typical traces of humor and self-irony in Trbuljak’s oeuvre.
Selected solo exhibitions
2022
Goran Trbuljak: 45 Years of Non-Painting, P420 Arte Contemporanea, Bologna, Italy.
2021
Goran Trbuljak: From Self Ironic to Self Sardonic. With 40 years of non-painting, Gregor Podnar, Vienna, Austria.
2019
Goran Trbuljak: a never before seen work by an unseen artist, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia.
Goran Trbuljak. Before and After Retrospective, MAMBo – Villa delle Rose, Bologna, Italy.
2018
Goran Trbuljak: Before and After Retrospective, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland.
2016
Un artiste sans galerie est comme une patate sans la friteuse, Galerija dr Vinko Perčić, Subotica, Serbia.
Umjetnik bez galerije isto je što i krumipir bez friteze, a galerist bez galerije je kao friteza bez ulja, Museo-Muzej Lapidarium, Galerija Rigo, Novigrad, Croatia.
2015
Što je Torbuljak, a što su torbuljaci, Galerija Vladimir Bužančić, Zagreb, Croatia.
Zatvoreno – otvoreno, Galerija 3.14, Zagreb, Croatia.
Sketches for Sculpture (Stone, Marble, Iron), 1993-2015, Galerija SPOT, Zagreb, Croatia.
2014
GT: monogram, monograph, monochrome, monologue, P420, Bologna, Italy.
Goran Trbuljak, Torbuljaci, Art Gallery Kula, Split, Croatia.
2013
Monografije, Radnička galerija, Zagreb, Croatia.
Personal and others obstacles, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Ljubljana.
2012
Press Release, Galerija AŽ Atelieri Žitnjak, Zagreb, Croatia.
2011
Personal and others obstacles, Greta, Zagreb, Croatia.
Monochrome & Mongram, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2008
Anonymous Post Post Modern Modern Artist, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2005
Galerija Rigo, Novigrad, Croatia.
2002
Slavonski Brod, Croatia.
2001
Work in progress, Gallery O.K., Rijeka, Croatia.
1996
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
1995
Gallery Dante, Umag, Croatia.
Galerija Rigo, Novigrad, Croatia.
1994
Staklena paleta, Gallery Dante, Umag, Croatia.
Art workshop Lazareti, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Ograničeni radovi, Galerija Hajdarović, Slavonska Požega, Croatia.
1993
Cultural-informational centre, Zagreb, Croatia.
1989
Galerija Sesame, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
1986
Retrospective, some works, Galerija proširjenih medija, Zagreb, Croatia.
Exhibition of ready made, August Šeon Library, Zagreb, Croatia.
1979
Ovom izložbom održavam kontinuitet u svom radu, Studio of Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
Living and working space, Hotel Dubrovnik, room 222, Zagreb, Croatia.
u predvorju kina SC, Galerija proširjenih medija, Zagreb, Croatia.
Retrospective, Salon of Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia.
1977
Gallery of Student Cultural Center, Belgrade, Serbia.
Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy.
Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy.
Il nome ben scritto fa l’artista, Studio 167e, Torino, Italy.
Galerija Nova, Zagreb, Croatia.
1975
Galerija Remont, Warsaw, Poland.
Galerie 28, Paris, France.
Galeria Znak, Bialystok, Poland.
Atelier Milch Strasse, Freiburg, Germany.
1972
Artiste Anonyme, Galerie des Locataires, Paris, France.
Gallery of Student Cultural Centre, Zagreb, Croatia.
1971
Space, Frankopanska 2a, Zagreb, Croatia.
Fine art salon tribine mladih, Novi Sad, Croatia.
I don’t want to show anything new and original, Gallery of Student Centre, Zagreb, Croatia.
Selected group exhibitions
2023
Art Addicts, P74 Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2020
Umjetnost je sumnja / Art is Doubt I/III, Lexart Skladište, Zagreb, Croatia.
Collection of Contemporary Art: Marino Cettina, Museum of Contemporary Art of Istria, Croatia.
2019
Contemporary Art from Croatia, European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
2018
Recollection – A Journey After 28 Years, PROYECTOSMONCLOVA, Mexico City, Mexico.
2017
Everything we see could also be otherwise (My sweet little lamb), The Showroom, London, United Kingdom.
LA FINE DEL NUOVO | THE END OF THE NEW, Prsten Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia.
The End of the New, P74 Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Think of this as a Window, MUT, Mutina HQ, Fiorano, Italy.
The Eighties: The Heritage of 1989 / Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Low-Budget Utopias, Second Recycling, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2016
My sweet little lamb (Everything we see could also be otherwise), Galerija Nova and other venues, Zagreb, Croatia.
Non-Aligned Modernity. Eastern-European Art from the Marinko Sudac Collection FM Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy.
2015
Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960–1980, MoMA, New York City, USA.
Pula Film Festival: Cinemaniac 2015 – Motovun Video Meeting 1976, MMC Luka, Pula, Croatia.
Grammar of Freedom / Five Lessons: Works from the Arteast 2000+ Collection, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.
Theatre of Operations. Phase I: Reconnaissance, TU – Théâtre de l’Usine, Geneva, Switzerland.
Art Has No Alternative, (An Archive of Artists in Action), tranzit.sk, Bratislava, Slovakia.
2014
Coffee & Ink, Galeria Casas Riegner, Bogota, Colombia.
Personal Cuts – Art Scene in Zagreb from 1950s to now, Carré d´art – Musée d´art contemporain de Nîmes, France.
Permanent playfulness, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil.
Artevida: política [politics], curated by Adriano Pedrosa and Rodrigo Moura
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Decades of Revolt, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Gallery 5, Stockholm, Sweden.
Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, USA.
2013
Das Beste vom Besten. Vom riskanten Geschäft der Kunst, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.
… Was ist Kunst? …. Resuming a Fragmented History, Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, Austria.
The Present and Presence: Repetition 3 – The Street, Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Das Blut an meinen Händen, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
2012
You Are Kindly Invited to Attend, Open Systems – Zentrum für Kunstprojekte, Vienna, Austria.
2011
About Painting, Abc Art Berlin Contemporary, Berlin, Germany.
A Complicated Relation, part I, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Kalmar, Sweden.
Images Projected Until It Vanishes, Museion, Bolzano, Italy.
Curated by_Vienna 2011: East by South West, Galerie Georg Kargl, curated by Ana Janevski, Vienna, Austria.
COCO (Contemporary Concerns), Kunstverein, Vienna, Austria.
2010
You are kindly invited to attend, Aanant & Zoo Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
The Promises of the Past. A discontinuous history of art in Eastern Europe, Pompidou Centre, curated by Christine Macel and Joanna Mytkowska Paris, France.
2009
The Death of the Audience, Secession, curated by Pierre Bal-Blanc, Vienna, Austria.
Making of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany.
2008
Bit international. [Nove] Tendencije, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany.
2007
On Unknown Works, Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2006
The Sun on the Wall, steirischer herbst, Graz, Austria.
…und so hat Konzept noch nie Pferd bedeutet, Generali Foundation, Vienna, Austria.
Living Art on the Edge of Europe, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands.
Trajectory 1, LCCA, Riga, Latvia.
Venture II, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2005
51st Venice Biennial, Museo Fortuny, Croatian Pavilion, Venice, Italy.
Insert: Retrospective of Croatian Video Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
2004
Beyond Geometry, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, USA.
Kurze Karrieren, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria.
2003
By the way, Josip Račić Studio, Modern Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia.
2001
Triennial New Delhi, New Dehli, India
1999
Global Conceptualism – Points of Origin 1950s -1980s, Queens Museum, New York City, USA.
1995
47th Venice Biennial, Croatian Pavilion, Venice, Italy.
XXV Annale: Prema minimalismom, Dom hrvatskih likovnih umjetnika, Zagreb, Croatia.
1994
Exhibition of food and drinks, Galerija proširjenih medija, Zagreb, Croatia.
Words and Paintings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
1993
The Horse Who Sings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia.
Mjesto i sudbina, Art workshop Lazareti, Galerija Sesame, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Šest hrvatskih umjetnika – Umjetnost defanzive, neoegzistencijalizam, Galerija Zvonimir, Zagreb, Croatia.
Nova Hrvatska umjetnost, Moderna Galerija, Zagreb, Croatia.
A Casa / At Home, Campo s. Polo 1658, Calle dei Botteri, Venice, Italy.
1989
Avant – Gardes Yugoslaves, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Carassonne. Travelled to Musée de l Abbaye Sainte Croix, Les Sables dOlonne and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Toulon, France.
Jugoslavenska documenta 89, Olimpijski centar Skenderija, Galerija grada Sarajeva, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovnia.
Simplon Express, Central train station, Paris, Gare de Lyon, Paris, Dijon, France; Lausanne, Switzerland; Milan, Venice, Italy; Zagreb, Croatia.
1986
Art – Critique in the middle eighties, Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo, Bosnia.
U susret, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
1979
Artist in crisis, Gallery of Student Center, Georgetown Univesity, Washington DC, USA.
Values, Podroom, Zagreb, Croatia.
Inovacije u hrvatskoj umjetnosti sedamdesetih godina, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
Internationale Jugendtriennale + Meister der Zeichnung, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany.
1978
Za umjetnost u umu, Podroom, Zagreb, Croatia.
Moderne Kunst in Kroatien, Rathaus, Mainz, Germany.
1976
(Identitet = Identità), IV susreti u Motovunu, Motovun, Croatia.
Video International, Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark.
Works on paper, Galerija Doma omaldine, Belgrade, Croatia.
Video susreti jugoslavenskih i taljanskih umjetnika, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
1975
3rd International Open Encounter on Video, Galleria Civica dArte Moderna, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy.
Kritičke dijagnoze, Umetnostni paviljon, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia.
Aspekte – Gegenwärtige Kunst aus Jugoslawien, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria.
Passeport, Aspects 75 – Contemporary Yugoslav Art, The Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, UK.
1974
Art Video Confrontation 74, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France.
1973
Tendencije 5 (t-5), Tehnički muzej, Galerija suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb, Croatia.
8eme Bienale de Paris, Musée dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France.
Još jedna prilika da budete umjetnik, Galerija studentskog centra, Zagreb, Croatia.
Poste restante, (u organizaciji Galerie des Locataires), Düsseldorf, Germany.
Trigon 73, Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria.
Dokumenti o posobjektnim pojavama u jugoslavenskoj umetnosti 1968 – 1973, Salon of Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia.
1972
1. aprilski susreti, Galerija studentskog kulturnog centra, Belgrade, Serbia.
VII Internationale Malerwochen, Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria.
French Window, Paris, France.
1971
At the Moment, Space at Frankopanska 2a, Zagreb, Croatia.
In Another Moment, Gallery of Student Cultural Centre, Belgrade, Serbia.
Primeri konceptualne umetnosti u Jugoslaviji, Salon of Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia.
Mogućnosti za 1971, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia.
7eme Biennial de Paris, Musée d´Art Moderne, Paris, France.