DADAISM

An “eff you” to art and academia alike

THE BIRTH OF DADA

The “anti-art” DADA movement originated in Zurich, Switzerland and occurred from 1916 to 1924.

“Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration of antiart to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in the 1960s and the movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism.”—Marc Lowenthal, founder of Wakefield Press

DefinitionDADA: The French word for “hobbyhorse.” It was chosen randomly from a French-German dictionary with the express intent of being nonsensical.

WWI was fought and justified using logic. DADAists believed that when it can justify the mass slaughter of millions, logic is dead.

Therefore, DADA strives to:Cultivate absurdity, overthrow authority, offend the bourgeois and destroy modern values, traditions and the status quo.

DADA also embraced Existential thinking. If we cannot believe in reason, how can we believe in God? How can we believe there is any purpose to life?

Hannah Hoch - Cut with the Kitchen Knife Through the First Epoch of the Weimar Beer-Belly Culture, 1919.

Some characteristics of DADA include:Non-oil on canvas paintings, assemblages, collages and “ready made” art. In fact, everything made by man is art.

Jean ArpCollage

Max ErnstTwo Children are Threatened by a Nightingale

Marcel DuchampFountain

Marcel DuchampL.H.O.O.Q.

Raoul HausmannABCD

Man RayThe Gift

Max ErnstThe Master’s Bedroom, It’s Worth Spending a Night In

Jean Arp

MoustacheHat

Navel Bottle