Karel Martens: Unbound

Unbound was published on the occasion of Karel Martens’ first solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Rather than simply documenting the show, it assembles work spanning his entire career, mixing exhibited pieces with fragments, experiments, and found materials gathered from his studio.

The result sits somewhere between a catalog and an artist’s book. Pages are layered with collage, overprinting, and unexpected juxtapositions, reflecting Martens’ process as much as his output. Designed by Jordi de Vetten and Susu Lee in close dialogue with the artist, the book reads less like a formal survey and more like an open-ended companion, intuitive, exploratory, and deliberately unstructured. Contributions from curator Thomas Castro and museum director Rein Wolfs provide additional context.

● 216 pages
● 170 × 240 mm (6.7 × 9.4 inches)
● Softcover
● English
● 2025
● Roma Publications