{"id":71622,"date":"2025-08-01T20:39:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/?p=71622"},"modified":"2025-10-27T04:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T03:54:46","slug":"karel-martens-unbound-urban","status":"archived","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/cultuur\/karel-martens-unbound-stedelijk\/","title":{"rendered":"Karel Martens: Unbound at Stedelijk Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stedelijk presents the first major solo exhibition of Karel Martens (1939) in Amsterdam. Unbound<\/em> shows decades of work: autonomous print works, iconic books, posters and recent experimental research in color and form. Martens' handwriting - rhythm, repetitive structures, minimal interventions - remains recognizable even when he couples traditional printing techniques with new media.<\/p>\n

\"karel_portrait_1\"<\/p>\n

The exhibition is set up as a continuous score. You can see how Martens reuses materials, stacks pressure layers and lets color speak for itself. Instead of isolating \"beautiful end products,\" let Unbound<\/em> precisely breathe the process: proofs, iterations, combinations. The work invites you to come closer and feel the logic behind the image. A publication with the same title accompanies the expo, balancing between artist's book and catalog.<\/p>\n

Unbound<\/em> connects content to design debates of today: sustainability (working with residual materials), accessibility (typography as a space of use) and education (the transfer through teaching and workshops). The Stedelijk is also programming public events, including a talk with Martens and curator\/designer Thomas Castro - an opportunity to connect the work to today's design practice.<\/p>\n

\"Martens shows that design does not close - it remains open, breathing, in motion.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For visitors, the presentation feels like a reset of looking: graphic design not as clean form, but as research, time and rhythm. That fits the museum, where art and design intersect. And practical: Unbound<\/em> runs through Oct. 26, with daily opening hours and tickets available through the site. Combine the expo with a tour of the permanent collection or a walk around Museum Square.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stedelijk presents the first major solo exhibition of Karel Martens (1939) in Amsterdam. Unbound shows decades of work: autonomous print works, iconic books, posters and recent experimental research in color and form. Martens' handwriting - rhythm, repetitive structures, minimal interventions - remains recognizable even when he couples traditional printmaking techniques with new media. The exhibition is set up as a ... <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"district":[9],"class_list":["post-71622","post","type-post","status-archived","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultuur","district-amsterdam-centrum"],"acf":{"slider":[71630,71629],"fotograaf":"","editor":"","video":"","google_360":"","instagram_code":"","subregel":"Grafisch ontwerp onbegrensd \u2013 kleur, ritme en systeemspel in het Stedelijk","new_in_town":false,"featured_item":false,"beste_van_amsterdam":false,"homepage_carousel":false,"cord_A":"","cord_B":"","introductie_tekst":"Een leven lang ontwerpen, los van kaders. Karel Martens: Unbound<\/em> brengt de pionier van het Nederlandse grafisch ontwerp samen in \u00e9\u00e9n groot ritme: drukproeven, posters, boeken, letterpress-experimenten en recente installaties \u2013 de praktijk als spel en systeem tegelijk.","rubriek":"Evenement","locatie_event":2988,"naam_locatie":"","adres":"","stad":"","website":"https:\/\/www.stedelijk.nl\/nl\/nieuws\/karel-martens","telefoon_nummer":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71622"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71632,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71622\/revisions\/71632"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988"}],"acf:attachment":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71629"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71622"},{"taxonomy":"district","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amsterdamnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/district?post=71622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}