Katalin Ladik


Katalin Ladik is a Hungarian poet, performance artist and actress. She was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and in the last 20 years she has lived and worked alternately in Novi Sad, Serbia, in Budapest, Hungary and on the island of Hvar, Croatia. Parallel to her written poems she also creates sound poems and visual poems, performance art, writes and performs experimental music and audio plays. She is also a performer and an experimental artist. She explores language through visual and vocal expressions, as well as movement and gestures. Her work includes collages, photography, records, performances and happenings in both urban and natural environments.

Biography

Katalin Ladik studied at the Economic High School of Novi Sad between 1961 and 1963. She then joined the Dramski Studio acting school in Novi Sad, between 1964 and 1966.
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. 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 and Cigányfúró. Between 1993 and 1998 she taught at Hangár musical and theatrical education center.
She is a member of the Hungarian Writers' Union, the Hungarian Belletrists Association, the Association of Hungarian Creative Artists and the Hungarian PEN Club.

Awards

Katalin Ladik has earned various awards, including the Kassák Lajos Award, the award of Mikes Kelemen Kör , the József Attila Prize, the Mediawave Parallel Culture Award, the National Award for Culture of the Republic of Serbia, and the Laurel Wreath Award of Hungary.
In 2015, she received the Klára Herczeg Award in senior category from the Studio of Young Artists’ Association.
In 2016, she was awarded with the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace.
Her awards for acting include the Oktobarska nagrada grada Novog Sada , a collective award to the cast of Radio Novi Sad in 1967; first place at Smotra vojvođanskih profesionalnih pozorišta in 1978, for the role of Masha in Three Sisters, directed by György Harag, performed at the Novi Sad Theatre. The same role earned her the first place of Udruženje dramskih umetnika Srbije / Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia, in 1979. Katalin Ladik also received the Magyar Televízió Elnöki Nívódíja / Award of the President of Hungarian Television for Acting Excellence for acting in András Rajnai’s TV film series, Televíziós mesék felnőtteknek in 1980. In 1986, she was awarded first place at Smotra vojvođanskih profesionalnih pozorišta / Festival of Professional Theaters in Vojvodina for the role of Skinner in Howard Barker’s The Castle, directed by David Gothard, performed at the National Theatre in Subotica.
2017 Artisjus Literary Award for her poetry volume „A víz emlékezete”
2017 Janus Pannonius Filius Ursae Award for her literary oeuvre for „being defiant, provocative, and confrontational towards the actual literary canons”

Poetry

Katalin Ladik became known after 1962 through her surreal and erotic poems. In addition to a number of books in Hungarian, volumes of her poetry were published in Yugoslavia, France, Italy and the United States. Her poems also appeared in various magazines and anthologies worldwide, translated into Spanish, German, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Hindi, Chinese, Indonesian, Romanian, Macedonian, Rusyn and Slovenian.

Prose

Her first novel, entitled Élhetek az arcodon? was published in 2007 by Nyitott Könyvműhely. It is considered to be an eminent work in Hungarian Avant-garde literature. It is partly autobiographical, partly self-reflecting. The novel alternates between reality and fiction, prose and poetry, sometimes switching to a prose poem style. Its main target audience is that part of the artists’ community who are receptive to esoteric allusions.
The book is about three women: the Editor, who lives in Budapest, the Artist, and the Glasswoman who lives in Novi Sad, all of whom bear the same name. The shared name determines their lives. Initially, they are unaware of one another, but throughout the book their lives get gradually intertwined. After they get to know one another, they begin to live each other's life, which changes everything for them forever.
One of the peculiarities about the book is the uniquely rich textual documentation and the large number of photos.

Publications

Volumes in original language

Sound poetry

As vocalist, Katalin Ladik collaborated with prominent Croatian, Serbian and Hungarian composers, such as Dubravko Detoni, Branimir Sakač, and Milko Kelemen ; Ernő Király ; Dušan Radić ; Boris Kovač ; Deže Molnar ; Zsolt Sőrés a.k.a. Ahad, and Zsolt Kovács.

Online Audio

2011
Most of Katalin Ladik's performances balance on the borderline between performance art and theatre: the performance of sound poems is accompanied by theatrical body action and in many cases, the surrounding space is structured similarly to a traditional theatre. Those who examine her poetry often refer to her sound poetry performances. On the other hand, no detailed analyses have been produced about the dramaturgical characteristics of her performances, and the relations of sign systems between her poetry and performances. It is a well-reasoned choice, however, to locate her in the context of female performance artists, as Katalin Ladik uses her body and person as the medium of her art in her performances, which occupies a special position within the history of Western art.

A list of performances, happenings, actions

1960s-'70s

1968
1970
1971
1972
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1982
1983
1984
1985
1988
1989
1990
1993
1994
1995
1996
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2016
2017
2018

As an actress

Feature films

Writer and performer

Solo exhibitions

1973
1976
1977
1979
2007
2010
2011
2015
2016
2017

1970s

1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1982
1983
1984
1985
1987
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
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