Katalin Ladik
![]() Katalin Ladik giving a sound poetry performance at the Chapel Gallery in Balatonboglár, Hungary, July 1973. Photo: György Galántai [1] | |
Born |
October 25, 1942 Novi Sad, Yugoslavia |
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Lives in | Budapest, Hungary |

Katalin Ladik (1942, Novi Sad) is a poet, performer, and actress. Influenced by a multi-ethnic, multilingual environment, she works with lyrical texts as well as sound poems, visual poetry, experimental music, and radio plays. As a performer, her range also extends to happenings and theater plays.
Ladik studied at the Economic High School of Novi Sad (1961-63), then joined the Dramski Studio [Drama Studio] acting school in Novi Sad (1964-66). Between 1961 and 1963 she worked as a bank assistant. During this time, in 1962, she began to write poetry. From 1963 to 1977 she worked for Radio Novi Sad. She joined the newly established Novi Sad Theatre in 1974, becoming a member of its permanent ensemble in 1977 and working there until 1992. In 1992 she emigrated to Hungary. She primarily acted in dramatic roles. Over the years, she also played major and minor roles in various TV films and movies. She led the poetry sections of literary magazines Élet és Irodalom (1993-94) and Cigányfúró (1994-99). Between 1993 and 1998 she taught at Hangár musical and theatrical education center.
Her artistic work has received numerous awards, including the Klára Herczeg Prize in 2015 and the Artisjus Literature Prize in 2017. She is a regular guest at international festivals and took part in documenta 14 in 2017. She lives alternately in Novi Sad, Budapest and on the island of Hvar (Croatia).
Works[edit]
O-pus[edit]
Imre Póth, Katalin Ladik, Attila Csernik, 1972. Download (WEBM)
Video documentation: Attila Csernik. via Artpool
O-pus is a film that combines Ladik's interest in writing, image, sound, and performance. When film’s original soundtrack was lost, a new interpretation of the visual form was recorded. The work – made in Yugoslavia in the early 1970s – transposes the achievements of visual poetry into the world of sounds. The main motif is an image of the letter ‘o’, which is subjected to various transformations. The film, as a visual score created by Attila Csernik, is used to create the vocal performance. Ladik sings, whispers and shouts, exploring the relationships between visual effects and their reflections in sound. The film is a poem, a piece of music, and the documentation of a highly erotic performance, all at the same time. (from David Crowley, Daniel Muzyczuk, Sounding the Body Electric: Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern Europe 1957-1984, Lodz: Muzeum Sztuki, 2012, p 123)
Catalogues[edit]
- Katalin Ladik. Ooooooooo-pus, ed. Hendrik Folkerts, Milan: Skira, 2023, 160 pp. With contributions by Diedrich Diederichsen, Hendrik Folkerts, Irena Haiduk, Ana Janevski, Dieter Roelstraete, Pierre Bal-Blanc, Fanny Hauser, Emese Kürti, Quinn Latimer, Bhavisha Panchia, Gloria Sutton, Sarah Johanna Theurer, Paolo Thorsen-Nagel, and Mónica de la Torre. Publisher. Exhibitions: Haus der Kunst, Munich. Ludwig Forum Aachen, Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Exh. review: Matthew Rana (Kunstkritikk).
Literature[edit]
- Emőke G. Komoróczy, "„Bensőbb lebegéssel, örök jelenben élni a tágasabb létet”. Ladik Katalin sokműfajú költészete, performanszail", in Komoróczy, Avantgárd kontinuitás a XX. században. A párizsi Magyar Műhely és köre, Budapest: Hét Krajcár, 2016, pp 473-502. (Hungarian)
- Emese Kürti, Screaming Hole: Poetry, Sound and Action as Intermedia Practice in the Work of Katalin Ladik, trans. Katalin Orbán, Budapest: acb ResearchLab, 2017, 247 pp.
- Emese Kürti, "Multiethnicity and Performative Music in the Former Yugoslavia. Katalin Ladik and Ernő Király’s Cooperation", trans. Ádám Lovász and Emese Kürti, Unearthing the Music, Jun 2021. [2]
- Louise Gray, "Katalin Ladik: The Vocal Minority", The Wire 450, Aug 2021, pp 32-39.
- http://www.etd.ceu.hu/2011/balind_vera.pdf
Documentary[edit]
See also[edit]
Links[edit]
- Ladik on acb Gallery
- Katalin Ladik & Zsolt Sőrés Ahad: Léda és a fattyú, live recording, Szentendre at the Gödör Club 2 festival, Budapest, Hungary, 2011.
- Ladik at Wikipedia