Artistic appropriation strategies, although well-researched on a global scale, have yet to be systematically researched in the context of artistic production in Croatia. Therefore, this dissertation aims to provide a deeper understanding of appropriation strategies as well as the process and circumstances of their development with a focus on Croatian contemporary art, particularly the second half of the 20th century, and especially the period from 1959 to 1989, which was marked by an upsurge in their usage. The main research question of the dissertation being “In what way did appropriation strategies in Croatian contemporary art develop and what factors influenced this?”, the bulk of the work focuses on various manifestations of appropriation in the works of a selection of 19 Croatian artists. The main hypotheses of the dissertation concern: (1) the parallel development of appropriation strategies and mass consumer society in Croatia; (2) a complex web of economic, social, and institutional factors which affect an artist’s choice of using appropriation strategies; (3) the broadening of the scope of artistic activity as a result of this; (4) the altered status of artists who use these strategies and who, (5) often found themselves in the position of alternative, marginal artists, or mavericks in society. The thesis will not prove a direct causeand-effect relationship between the aforementioned factors and the use of artistic appropriation strategies, but it will demonstrate that there are clear correlations. The introductory chapters of this dissertation serve to establish its theoretical basis by explaining the title. The decision to use the phrase “appropriation strategies”, in its plural form, is also explained, considering the multiplicity of possible artistic strategies and a growing plethora of materials that artists started to use during this time. Their “strategic” aspect is also explained, alluding to the key role of artistic intention, forethought, and the possibility of continual transformation and iterations of the artworks and processes illustrated throughout the thesis. Short analyses of phrases related to “appropriation strategies” (ready-made, readymade strategy/ies, neo-ready-made, appropriation, quotation strategies, collage, montage, etc.) are also provided in order to explain why the aforementioned phrase is thought to be a more adequate one to refer to the artistic production which is the topic of this dissertation. The introductory chapters also explain the methods used in the author’s research and the impediments that appeared during this process. Additionally, this work puts forward a brief overview of previous knowledge regarding appropriation strategies (and appropriation in general) with a particular emphasis on the work of theoreticians and art historians from Yugoslavia (focusing on those from Croatia) such as Nada Beroš, Ješa Denegri, Zvonko Maković, Dubravka Oraić Tolić, Dejan Sretenović, Marijan Susovski, Ive Šimat Banov, and Miško Šuvaković, just to name a few. A review of this kind serves both as a theoretical groundwork but also as a platform for critical deliberation on the previous research with the goal of finding unexplored, or not thoroughly researched areas which this work can augment. Although it leans on previous findings, this dissertation compares them to one another to a certain extent and questions them on the basis of artistic examples. Whereas the initial chapters compare them and explain the intention behind further research and the application of past findings, the author proceeds to reach a better understanding of appropriation strategies in Croatian artistic production in the latter parts of the dissertation through an elaboration on several key influencing factors and a selection of artists and artworks. The dissertation’s discussion first provides an introduction in terms of the noticeable trends in artistic strategies and influencing factors, emphasizing the importance of youth culture and the artistic contacts and influences which might have inspired individual artists. Three key frameworks are put forward—the economic, institutional, and societal—which are further used as a lens through which individual artists’ oeuvres are analyzed. The following chapters proceed to elaborate on the key early protagonists, art spaces, and movements that influenced the growing use of appropriation strategies in the second half of the 20th century. A parallel is then drawn between the marginal, alternative, or maverick status of artists using appropriation strategies during this time. The final part of the dissertation focuses on a select group of 19 protagonists, making a note of their marginalized, or at least alternative role in society. Each chapter is thus structured to show the development of appropriation strategies in individual oeuvres, reflecting the trends and factors mentioned previously. Suffice it to say, these chapters are by no means allencompassing with regards to these artists’ oeuvres. The chosen artworks were selected because they illustrate the use of appropriation in one form or another. This individualized approach was chosen because of the specificity of the artists’ biographies which the author was unable to group together without disregarding some crucial developmental factors in the artists’ lives. The timeframe which this work deals with begins with the first decades of the 20th century (during which collage stands out) and delves more deeply into the second half of the century and the beginning of the 21st century, with an emphasis on the period from 1959 to 1989. Focus is put on appropriationist works created in the Socialist era, although artworks created after 1989 are not ignored. However, they are approached in a less contextual manner due to the largely different socio-political climate during the last decade of the 20th century, both on a global scale, and especially in Croatia. This points to the necessity for a different interpretation of appropriationist works created in this period. Also, appropriation art in the 1990s is a widespread, widely accepted, and well-researched phenomenon, the detailed analysis of which in this dissertation would not significantly contribute to the understanding of the initial developments of appropriation strategies in Croatian art and the resulting broadening of the scope of materials which are deemed “artistic”. Of particular concern for this work are the artistic experiments carried out in the context of artistic groups such as the Gorgona group (1959–1966), the fictional Pensioner Tihomir Simčić group (or rather the individual artworks created from the late 1960s and through to the 1980s by its supposed members, Braco Dimitrijević and Goran Trbuljak), and the Group of Six Authors (1975–1980), as well as the experiments of artists gathered around informal gallery spaces such as the Working Community of Artists Podroom (1978–1980)1 and the PM Gallery (more generally the Expanded Media Section of the Croatian Association of Artists, established in 1981). The art movements highlighted in this work, and which serve to help understand the phenomenon of appropriation, include the new art practice and conceptual art. The relevance of this work lies in the explanation of the various modes of articulation of appropriation strategies and the form of their use in the visual arts, all the while taking into account the historical, socio-political, economic, and institutional context of their development, both on a macro level (elaborated on in the chapter concerning trends) and a micro level (in 19 case studies). Concurrently, the focus is placed on the artistic production itself, and an interdisciplinary approach is used to aid in a thorough contextual analysis of the artworks. Apart from art-historical interpretations of appropriation works, this dissertation aims to elaborate on the economic, social, and institutional framework (partially based on the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu) of the development of appropriation strategies. Such contextualization is partly based on philosophical and sociological knowledge, as well as a long-standing tradition of the social history of art. Through researching individual artists’ biographies, oeuvres, exhibiting activity, as well as various other socio-political, economic, and institutional factors that influenced their lives and artwork (particularly their popularity on the Croatian art market at the time), the author came to a narrow selection of artists to focus on. The selection was primarily made based on the prominence and presence of appropriation strategies in the artists’ oeuvres. The artists included in this work include: Dimitrije Bašičević-Mangelos, Boris Bućan, Braco Dimitrijević, Vladimir Dodig Trokut, Zlatan Dumanić, Ivan Faktor, Vera Fischer, Tomislav Gotovac, Sanja Iveković, Ivan Kožarić, Ivan Ladislav Galeta, Vlado Martek, Dalibor Martinis, Edita Schubert, Damir Sokić, Mladen Stilinović, Goran Trbuljak, Josip Vaništa, and Gorki Žuvela. The broadening of the scope of artistic activity is emphasized as an important result of artistic appropriation. To illustrate this, a discussion on the artworks that demonstrate the increase in the use of materials and techniques, and thus certain forms of appropriation, takes up a larger section of this dissertation. In line with its main goals, the final results of the research conducted for the purposes of this dissertation will be two succinct corpora of artworks and names of artists (one listed in alphabetical order, the other chronologically), as well as a chronological list of exhibitions that attest to the use of appropriation strategies in Croatia. These corpora, even though they can be perpetually developed and added onto, illustrate how appropriation strategies in Croatia evolved, starting from the use of collage in the early 1920s, through the abandonment of Communism in Yugoslavia in 1989/1990, up to the present day. This dissertation aims to contribute to Croatian art history through the analysis of contemporary Croatian artistic production, artistic appropriation of diverse objects, and the broadening of the scope of artistic creation. Taking appropriation as one of the leading global artistic phenomena of the 20th century, this dissertation explains the ways appropriation manifested itself in Croatia and the possible reasons behind its specificity in relation to foreign artistic production.