1. The Art Movement that rebelled against the
dominant political and cultural narrative
2. • Dada was an art movement formed during
the First World War in Zurich in negative
reaction to the horrors and folly of the war.
The art, poetry and performance produced
by dada artists is often satirical and
nonsensical in nature.
• Their aim was to destroy traditional values
in art and to create a new art to replace the
old.
• Dada was also anti-bourgeois and had
political affinities with the radical left.
3. 1.
Dada emerged from a
period of artistic and
literary movements like
Futurism, Cubism and
Expressionism centered
mainly in Italy, France
and Germany
2. July 14,
1916
Prominent Dadaists
published manifestos,
but the movement was
loosely organized and
there was no central
hierarchy. On 14 July
1916, Ball originated the
seminal Dada Manifesto.
4.
Dadaist magazines
were banned and
their exhibits closed.
Some of the artists
even faced
imprisonment.
3. 1918
Tzara's manifesto
articulated the concept of
"Dadaist disgust" the
contradiction implicit in
avant-garde works
between the criticism and
affirmation of modernist
reality.
4. The founder of dada was a writer, Hugo
Ball. In 1916 he started a satirical night-club
in Zurich, the Cabaret Voltaire, during one
of the meetings held in 1916 by a group of
young artists and war resisters that
included Jean Arp, Richard Hülsenbeck,
Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, and Emmy
Hennings. When a paper knife inserted
into a French-German dictionary pointed
to the French word dada (“hobby-horse”)
5. Whimsy and Nonsense
• Much like humor, most everything created during the Dada
movement was absurd, paradoxical, and opposed harmony
Dadaism influenced a variety of media:
• Emmy Hemmings was a poet and cabaret performer,
Francis Picabia was a musician, poet, and artist Marcel
Duchamp dabbled in painting, sculpture, and film.
Humor
• Laughter is often one of the first reactions to Dada art and
literature. By inducing creative wit, Dada writers were able
to portray a sense of “lightness” but also imply a deeper
meaning, which often challenged cultural order
6. • the movement was marked by revolt and protest.
Everything written, created, danced, and performed was
intended to oppose all established sets of protocol and to
create shock value.
Artistic Freedom
• Dada artists rejected cultural standards and values, and
were thus dissatisfied with traditional definitions of what
art could be
Emotional Reaction
7. Irrationalism
• The movement was heavily influenced by Freud’s theories
of the unconscious and free association, a method for
liberating the unconscious from the censoring mechanism
of conscious thoughts
Spontaneity
• They used improvisation to appeal to individuality and
further challenge accepted artistic practice.
8. Fountain
(1917)
Marcel Duchamp
Fountain is one of the most
iconic art pieces of the 20th
century, representing a
major shift in the function of
art in society. While the
original 1917 piece does not
survive today, Tate created a
replica made of
earthenware in 1964.
9. L.H.O.O.Q.
(1919)
Marcel Duchamp
L.H.O.O.Q. is another
famous example of a
‘readymade’ sculpture by
Marcel Duchamp. It was
created from an
inexpensive postcard of
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona
Lisa (1503-06) which
Duchamp then drew a
waxed mustache and
goatee onto.
10. Construction
For Noble
Ladies (1919)
Kurt Schwitters
An example of Schwitters’ use of
abstraction in collage and sculpture.
This assemblage piece also
exemplifies the ‘found object’ style of
sculpture, as it is constructed of a
variety of broken and disjointed
materials: a funnel, a metal toy train,
broken wheels, and other scrap
objects. It also includes a horizontal
portrait of a noble lady
11. The Art Critic
(1919-20)
Raoul Hausmann
The Art Critic is Hausmann’s
ardent criticism of the
superficiality of the art world. The
piece is a photo collage made up
of a series of magazine and
newspaper photographs and
includes some drawn elements.
12. Cut with the Kitchen
Knife Dada Through the
Last Weimar Beer-Belly
Cultural Epoch of
Germany (1919-20)
Hannah Höch
represents the juxtaposition between Dadaism
and mainstream culture during the time.
Clustered in one part of the photo collage are
members of dominant political groups such as
the Weimar government and the army.
13. The Mechanical
Head (1920)
Raoul Hausmann
It was crafted from a hairdresser’s wig
dummy, a ruler, a pocket watch, a
wallet, pieces from a camera and other
found items. The piece is thought to be
a commentary on how humanity
interacts with objects and the
surrounding world.
14. Shirt Front
and Fork
(1922)
Jean Arp
Shirt Front and
Fork is part of a
series of painted
wooden relief
sculptures that
Arp crafted in the
1920s. The work
has a
monochrome
graphic element
to it, with soft,
organic forms and
a simplistic
composition.
15. Optophone I
(1922)
Francis Picabia
The piece simulates the
effects of an optophone, a
device that uses sonification
to scan texts and images to
help the blind identify letters
on a page
16. Rayograph
(1922)
Man Ray
These pieces were made using
photographic paper, on which Ray
placed a series of objects and then
exposed them to light. The paper
would then darken where an object
was not placed, creating the effect of
a negative-light shadow.
17. Ubu
Imperator
(1923)
Max Ernst
The subject portrays the father Ubu, a
symbol of authority and greed seen in a
series of plays by Alfred Jerry that
elucidate the injustices of complacency
under the bourgeois empirical society.
