From the brilliant inanity of Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!, to the cacophonous assault of bands like Wolf Eyes and Lighting Bolt, the influence of Dada art has reared its beautifully atrocious face in several artistic and cultural incarnations since its 1916 inception in Zurich, Switzerland. The movement sought to provoke audiences by embracing nonsense and transgression, eliciting feelings of disgust, shock or anger through an extensive array of manifestos, literature, music, theater, photography and motion pictures. This is it’s (embarrassingly condensed) story.
Hugo Ball, a German poet, artist and author, and Tristan Tzara, a Romanian essayist, poet, author and conceptual artist, birthed Dada with the founding of the Zürich Dada Movement. The group sought to create a reaction against increasing bourgeois influences in European art, combining this with a disgust brought forth by the destruction and disillusionment caused by World War One. Early Dadaists would congregate at Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire, a nightspot where Dadaists would discuss personal or Dada-influenced philosophies and have discussions on the overall trepidation of World War One. The movement would attempt to bring this feeling of distrust and transgression to fruition through an emphasis on the irrational and bizarre, conveying the aforementioned sentiments through bold, innovative and intentionally destructive or unsound works of art. For example, Hugo Ball’s “sound poems,” poems with no real words, composed of bizarre, artfully arranged nonsense. When read aloud they sounded like defective chants made by a preacher on suicide watch (check ubu.com for sound files). Another example are ready-mades; everyday objects altered and presented as works of art. Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917), a urinal bearing the inscription “R. Mutt,” is perhaps the most well known of these pieces. Another readymade (and a personal favorite) is Man Ray’s Cadaeu (1921). A clothing iron with nails attached to the base, perfectly stating the Dadaist purpose: the only use for these pieces is to destroy and threaten. The Dada movement would also inspire works in film during its infancy. An example includes Man Ray’s short film, Le Retour a La Raison (1923), which upon frequent viewings, seems to be an indirect precursor to abstract expressionism (the expressionist lines and scribbles that pollute the screen in the very first seconds) and pop art (the trippy, surreal distortions the artist makes on a half-naked woman). The development of collages and assemblages also seemed to develop from this time period as well.
Displacements caused by World War One contributed to the forced migration of many artists (eventual Dadaists) throughout a good portion of Europe. Major European cities like Berlin, Paris, and Cologne birthed influential Dadaist publications. The most popular of these, “Tzara’s Dada”, began publication in 1917 in Zurich, with only a limited number of editions issued. As the rise of Dada continued, the movement itself would gentrify into more ironic (and arguably, accessible) territory when it ended up in New York City, with Marcel Duchamp, Frances Picabia, Man Ray and Marius de Zayas reaching prominence in New York’s Dadaist community. Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery in Manhattan would prove to be influential in the development of Dada and avant-garde art at that time.
Dada proved to be as sporadic and dysfunctional as the art it was producing. Many involved in the movement found themselves blending in with the incoming of Surrealism. Indeed, as Dada’s popularity peaked in 1922-3 with the supersession of the latter movement, many Dadaists, or those who collaborated or showed Dada influences in their work, would reach prominence within the Surrealist community. Additionally many Dadaists began to display more political sympathies in their work with the rise of Communism and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. Dadaism, which intended to dispel the elitism of its precursors, imploded when it became acceptable in the art community. The movement became what it was rallying against, killing itself in the process.
Dada’s influence in mid-to-late 20th and early 21st century art and culture is unparalleled. The movement instilled in artists the idea of embracing one’s surroundings, no matter how ugly or sour, to create strange, exciting forms of expression that were as revolutionary then as they are now. No longer were artists pigeonholed to painting beautiful landscapes or to following academic or societal trends in art. Reaffirmed by World War One and its postwar effect, Dadaist creations made considerable difference in a world that condoned the latter atrocities. As the movement’s influence grew, the denial to produce accessible works (portraiture, landscapes, arts influenced by past movements) made more sense than forcing the artist to bow down to audience expectations.
Dadaists opted for challenging, enticing works over bland mediocrities. As a result, Dada became prelude to movements like Surrealism and postmodernism. It indirectly prophesied the advent of punk (which employs the same fuck-it-all attitude, only messier) and birthed a more aggressive descendant known as transgressive art. The movement’s influence is revolutionary for anyone who proved to be even the slightest bit different from the norm. Measly acts like dying one’s hair green, or listening to obscure music, or simply not giving a fuck what anyone thinks or says about one’s own style, art, or personality: these actions we take for granted are part of the ripple effect caused by the movement known as Dada.
Works Cited:
“Dada.” The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford University Press, Inc., 2002.
“Dada.” The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Oxford University Press, 1995, 2005.
