Dadaism or Dada was a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political and cultural

values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance and politics. Dada was not
so much a style of art like Cubism or Fauvism; it was more a protest movement with an anti-
establishment manifesto.

DADAISM: ART MOVEMENT

During the First World War, countless artists, writers and intellectuals who opposed the war sought refuge in
Switzerland. Zurich, in particular, was a hub for people in exile, and it was here that Hugo Ball and Emmy
Hemmings opened the Cabaret Voltaire on 5 February 1916. The Cabaret was a meeting spot for the more
radical avant-garde artists. A cross between a nightclub and an arts centre, artists could exhibit their work
there among cutting-edge poetry, music, and dance. Hans (Jean) Arp, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco and Richard
Huelsenbeck were among the original contributors to the Cabaret Voltaire. As the war raged on, their art and
performances became increasingly experimental, dissident and anarchic. Together, they protested against
the pointlessness and horrors of the war under the battle cry of DADA.

WHAT IS DADAISM?

As a word, it is nonsense. As a movement, however, Dada art proved to be one of the revolutionary
movements in the early twentieth century. Initially conceived by a loose band of avant-garde modernists in
the prelude to World War I but adopted more fully in its wake, the Dadaist celebrated luck in place of logic
and irrationality instead of calculated intent.

Key dates: 1916-1924

Key regions: Switzerland, Paris, New York

Key words: chance, luck, nonsense, anti-art, readymade

Key artists: Hugo Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Hans (Jean) Arp, Hannah Höch, Man Ray, Francois Picabia

ORIGIN:
The central premise behind the Dada art movement (Dada is a colloquial French
term for a hobby horse) was a response to the modern age. Reacting against the
rise of capitalist culture, the war, and the concurrent degradation of art, artists in
the early 1910s began to explore new art, or an “anti-art”, as described by Marcel
Duchamp. They wanted to contemplate the definition of art, and to do so they
experimented with the laws of chance and with the found object. Theirs was an
art form underpinned by humor and clever turns, but at its very foundation, the
Dadaists were asking a very serious question about the role of art in the modern
age. This question became even more pertinent as the reach of Dada art spread –
by 1915 its ideals had been adopted by artists in New York, Paris, and beyond –
and as the world was plunged into the atrocities of World War I.

ADVENT OF THE READYMADE

One of the most iconic forms to emerge amidst this flourish of
Dadaist expression was the readymade, a sculptural form
perfected by Marcel Duchamp. These were works in which
Duchamp repurposed found or factory-made objects into
installations. In Advance a Broken Arm(1964), for instance,
involved the suspension of a snow shovel from a gallery mount;
Fountain(1917), arguably Duchamp’s most recognizable
readymade, incorporated a mass-produced ceramic urinal. By
taking these objects out of their intended functional space and
elevating them to the level of “art,” Duchamp poked fun at the
art establishment while also asking the viewer to seriously
contemplate how we appreciate art.
DIFFERENT MODES OF DADAISM
As Duchamp’s readymades exemplify, the Dadaists and the
Dada movement did not shy away from experimenting with
new media. Jean Arp, for example, explored the art of collage
and the potential for randomness in its creation. Man Ray also
toyed with the arts of photography and airbrushing as practices
that distanced the hand of the artist and thus incorporated
collaboration with a chance. Beyond these artistic media, the
Dadaists also probed the literary and performance arts. Hugo
Ball, for instance, the man who penned the unifying manifesto
of Dadaismin 1916, investigated the liberation of the written
word. Freeing text from the conventional constraints of a
published page, Ball played with the power of nonsensical
syllables presented as a new form of poetry. These Dadaist
poems were often transformed into performances, allowing
this network of artists to move easily between media.

Famous Dada Artworks

1. Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917)

In 1917, Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal to the Society of Independent Artists. The Society refused
Fountain because they believed it could not be considered a work of art. Duchamp’sFountainraised
countless important questions about what makes art art and is considered a major landmark in 20th-
century art.

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917

2. Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel (1913)

“In 1913, I had the happy idea to fasten a bicycle wheel to a kitchen stool and watch it turn,” said Marcel
Duchamp about his famous work Bicycle Wheel. Bicycle Wheel is the first of Duchamp’s readymade
objects. Readymades were individual objects that Duchamp repositioned or signed and called art. He
called Bicycle Wheel an “assisted readymade,” made by combining more than one utilitarian item to
form a work of art.

Dadaism example: Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1913.

Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1913

3. Man Ray’s Ingres’s Violin (1924)

By painting f-holes of a stringed instrument onto the photographic print of his nude model Kiki de
Montparnasse and rephotographing the print, Man Ray altered what was originally a classical nude. The
female body was now transformed into a musical instrument. He also added the title Le Violon d’Ingres,
a French idiom that means “hobby.”

Dadaism example: Man Ray, Ingres’s Violin, 1924.

Man Ray, Ingres’s Violin, 1924

4. Hugo Ball’s Sound Poem Karawane (1916)

Founder of the Cabaret Voltaire and writer of the first Dadaist Manifesto in 1916, most of Ball’s work
was in the genre of sound poetry. In 1916, the same year in which the published the first Dadaist
Manifesto, Ball performed the sound poem Karawane. The opening lines were:

“jolifanto bambla o falli bambla

großiga m’pfa habla horem”

The rest of the poem continued much along the same lines. Though the poem could be confused with
random, mad ramblings, sound-poetry was really a deeply considered method in the experimental
literature. The idea was to bring the sounds of human vocalization to the foreground by removing
everything else.

Hugo Ball, Karawane, 1916

Hugo Ball, Karawane, 1916

5. Raoul Hausmann’s Mechanical Head (The Spirit of our Time) (1920)

Raoul Hausmann was a poet, collagist, and performance artist, who is best known for his sculpture
entitled Mechanical Head (The Spirit of Our Time). The manikin head made from a solid wooden block is
a reversal of Hegel’s assertion that “everything is mind.” For Hausmann, man is empty-headed “with no
more capabilities than that which chance has glued to the outside of his skull.” By raising these topics,
Hausmann wanted to compose an image that would shatter the mainstream Western conventions that
the head is the seat of reason.

NOTES:
 Key characteristics of Dada: Dada art is nonsensical to the point of whimsy. Almost all of the
people who created it were ferociously serious, though. Abstraction and Expressionism were the
main influences on Dada, followed by Cubism and, to a lesser extent, Futurism.
 Dada was a form of artistic anarchy that challenged the social, political and cultural values of
the time.
 Dada embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance and politics.
 Dada aimed to create a climate in which art was unrestricted by established values.
 Dada was anti-establishment and anti-art.
 The name 'Dada' means 'hobbyhorse' or the exclamation "Yes-Yes".
 The Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich was the birthplace of Dada.
 After the war the Dadaists relocated to Berlin, Cologne, Hanover and New York.
 The Dadaists published 'manifestos' and magazines to help communicate their ideas.
 The Dadaists used techniques such as automatism, chance, photomontage and assemblage.
 The Dadaists introduced the concept that an artwork could be a temporary installation.

 The Dadaists expanded the boundaries and context of what was considered acceptable as art.

 Several Dada exhibitions caused public outrage and were closed by the authorities.

 Dada influenced the development of Surrealism, Action Painting, Pop Art, Happenings,
Installations and Conceptual Art.

 The main artists associated with Dada were Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Richard
Huelsenbeck, Jean (Hans) Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Höch, John Heartfield, Kurt Schwitters,
Johannes Baargeld, Johannes Baader, Max Ernst, George Grosz, Hans Richter, Francis Picabia,
Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.