TheWhimsical

Journey into Dadaism

By Shahneela Shaukat

Have you heard of “Dada” before?

Outline

• What is Dada?• How did it begin?• The spread of Dada• Art work examples• Dada & logic?• Influence of Dada

What exactly is Dada?

•An art movement• Involving: visual arts,

literature, poetry, theatre • In response to World War I

The beginnings of the movement

• A cultural movement during World War I• Artists (many from Romania) settled in neutral

Zurich, Switzerland

The beginnings of the movement

• A cultural movement during World War I• Artists (many from Romania) settled in neutral

Zurich, Switzerland • They started discussing ways to counter the

war• They termed Dada – a movement to break

away from old culture

The beginnings of the movement

The spread of Dada

Zurich

Berlin

New York

Paris

• Sculptures

Dada Artwork

• Sculptures • Collages

Dada Artwork

• Sculptures • Collages• Assemblages

Dada Artwork

• Sculptures • Collages• Assemblages• Avant-grade filmmaking

Dada Artwork

PLAY

• Dada is an anti-logic movement• Dadaists viewed old world logic as flawed and

unfair• They wanted to create a cultural revolution to

break away from this form of logic

How is it all related to logic?

• However, there are some similarities to how we view logical thinking:

Logic is using abstraction to analyse problems Dada used art as an abstraction to analyse what is

wrong with society Art via paradoxes Used DREAM logic

How is it all related to logic?

• Also:• Dada was in response to cultural crisis, because old

world culture had caused the war• Logicians were in crisis after Russell’s Paradox . Old

logic of Cantor, Hilbert, etc. Did not seem to work• So just as Dada attempted to destroy old culture...• New logic (Gödel, Turing, etc) destroyed old thinking

and brought new fields of study with it:• COMPUTER SCIENCE!

How is it all related to logic?

• The grandfather of Surrealism • Developed the idea of ready-made sculptors

ready-made art (see: the Turner Prize)• Made way for more radical postmodernist art

movements (abstract expressionism, Pop art)

The influence of Dada

Thank you