Dada; A movement of artists against art.

Dada was an art movement of the early 20^th century. This movement is described as a movement of artists against art. To understand the significance of the works that emerged from this era it is essential to look at the situations that the artists of the time were faced with. Dada art was fuelled by anger and loss of hope credited to society. World War I was the cause for most of the Dadaist's frustration. Many artist fled to Switzerland, one of the few neutral countries at the time. This created one of the most influential centres of Dada in Zurich. The heart of Zurich Dada was the Cabaret Voltaire. These gatherings were led by the artist Hugo Ball. There were other centres of Dada in Germany including Berlin which was quite different to Zurich because of the troubles the German Dadaist's were exposed to. The only centre of Dada outside Europe was New York. This was a product of European artists emigrating to America. The most influential artist of the Dada movement was Marcel Duchamp.

 

The anti art movement Dada began in the 1910's and quickly became a global phenomenon epitomised by Duchamp's Fountain¹. Building on the ethics of the anti-bourgeois café culture of Paris in the 1880s and 1890s ², Dada was a progressive period of transition into modern art. Art was no longer considered a trade by Dada artists instead it became a means of questioning the wrongs in society such as war, capitalism and brutality. This epoch saw artists using art to revolt against society using unconventional methods of expression in a satirical manner. The way in which the artists executed this concept determined the outcome of their efforts as a whole. It is essential to understand the reasons for this change in practice and the circumstance in which it took place. To highlight and understand anti art in this context it is necessary to look at examples of different cities involved in the movement to cite the common differences.

 

 

The most important artist of the Dada era was Marcel Duchamp, credited with the invention of the ready-made which in turn gave birth to conceptual art as we know it. This was the most significant milestone that emerged from Dada. These were not just found items but manifestations of Duchamp's perception of society as ludicrous. The ready-made was the pinnacle of the expressionistic aims of the Dada movement.

The word Dada has various meanings, this in itself highlighted the hypocritical nature of this anti-art movement. The word Dada has many meanings, the two most popular interpretations of the word Dada are hobby horse and yes yes³. Dada's purpose was to appear nonsensical and self righteous when set against the conservative art of the time.

 

It is hard to pinpoint the exact beginnings of Dada⁴. Dada being an art movement in the traditional sense of the word can be held up to criticism. It's elementary purpose was to agitate the bourgeoisie. Unlike other movements Dada was somewhat self concious of its own contradictions. This was art against art, yet these artists were producing works of art in protest. These artists were more focused on different ways of seeing and working with fresh motives⁵.

 

The artists belonging to Dada were more importantly against the capitalist society that consumed the industrialised era that they were part of. The art world had also become corrupted by greed which provoked the Dada movement. The Dadaist were part of 'a moral revolution'. Dada was said to be a state of mind of free thinking. Which in turn believing this meant turning one's back on the traditional art world⁶.

 

The Bourgeoisie which were part of the upper class aristocracy at the time, indulged in luxurious art made from exquisite materials. Dada concerned itself with disposable and insignificant materials in an immediate manner. They had grown tired of the greed of society, this movement was an act of rebellion. The Bourgeoisie saw the Dadaist as uncivilised and villainous. Artists like Hans Arp felt aggravated about the horrors of the First World War, Hans Arp describes this feeling as being “repelled by the slaughterhouses of the war, we turned to art” ⁷.

 

Zurich was the centre of the Dada movement formed as a result of many European artists who fled to Switzerland which remained neutral throughout the war⁸. Hugo Ball described Switzerland as a “bird cage surrounded by roaring lions”. This sanctuary is what brought all kinds of artists to Zurich⁹. Being in Switzerland only added to the feeling of unrest felt by the artists. This is why Zurich became the centre of the Dada movement. In Early 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire Swiss Dada was born¹⁰. The Cabaret Voltaire was sitting in a land void of culture¹¹.

 

The Cabaret Voltaire was an outlet of artistic expression for artists like Hans Arp, Marcel Janco and Hugo Ball. The Dadist produced publications, which outlined the sort of activities in which the Dada artist participated in¹². The first Dada evening was held in the Zunfthaus zur Waag, this included a reading from the first Dada Manifesto by Tristan Tzara and wood-cuts by Marcel Janco which is published in the Collection Dada¹³. This was a showcase of French, Russian, German and Swiss poets and artists, the Cabaret Voltaire blurred the lines between the two¹⁴. Art in the eyes of Dada held no formalities, rules or boundaries, Dada was a state of being. As much as the Cabaret was a step forward for modern art before anything else this was a 'literary phenomenon.

 

The frontier of this literary phenomenon was the German author and artist Hugo Ball.

Ball was focused mainly on performance art. He practised abstract phonetic poetry.

This stripped down poetry focused on the instant impact of sound and illogical babble.

He strived to comprehend the world in which he lived in, his response to this was absurdity¹⁵.

A true eccentric; Ball would dress as a 'Cubist bishop in cardboard robes' when performing in a 'mock ritual' manner¹⁶. Ball's aim was not to ridicule but to remedy art so “a meaningful instrument of life” could begin.

He wanted to use his art as a subconscious, spiritual force which would lay a foundation for change. This state of having positive beliefs in mankind slowly dissolved as a result of the barbarity and inhumanity of war. This pushed Ball further away from art, leading him to become disillusioned. Ball withdrew from Dadaism and by 1920 he had converted to Catholicism¹⁷. The abandonment of anti-art was an affirmation that anti-art was still somewhat art, thus not fulfilling what Dada truly set out to achieve. “Dada was against art itself, and thus in its self a contradiction” ¹⁸.

 

Dada was not confined to Zurich. This movement was alive in Berlin but in a different manner due to differing circumstances. Zurich did not generate a revolution, it was Berlin Dada that was living through the revolution¹⁹. The Berlin Dadaist were more proactive, Zurich periodicals were published. 'Die Freie Strasse' was a periodical published by the poet Franz Jung and painter Raoul Hausmann which marked 'anarchist tendencies' ²⁰. This branch of Dada was somewhat more aggressively anti-society. They were against society which included the avant garde art practices such as Expressionism, Futurism and Cubism. These were seen as the bane of abstract art. Huelsenbeck declared “We hated nothing so much as romantic silence and the search for the soul: we were convinced the soul could only show itself in our actions” ²¹. This was the general consensus, anti-art was the aim of this collective yet this movement can appear banal and frivolous compared to other epochs. It is hard to determine the value and worth of anti art when artists like Hausmann's pieces were so coincidentally similar to the art he protested against. Exploring social theory alone was perhaps not enough to truly make a painting a work against art²².

This was mostly a concern felt by European artists. Dada did not have the same effect in America except for New York Dada, mainly influenced by the presence of foreign artists such as Edgar Varèse, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp among others²³. The circumstance differed from those of the European collectives yet the struggles remained consistent. The conflict between American avant garde artists and the National Academy concerned with 'middle class values' caused much dissent among this group²⁴. They also strived to explore similar ideas relevant to the elementary forms of sound, colour and 'intellectual rhythms' ²⁵.

 

It was Marcel Duchamp who was seen as one of Dada's most noteworthy and profound figures.  Duchamp was a French artist and like many other Dadaist's he was a poet and experimented in film. He was a member of the 'Golden Section' a painters group including artists such as Picabia, Léger, Metzinger to name a few. These artists drew inspiration from the Cubist painters. This is evident in Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase. An anti-art method of approaching art began to occur between this time and 1914 when Duchamp exhibited his Ready-made pieces²⁶.

 

 

The first piece of this nature was Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel 1913. This idea of the ready-made can be associated with collage, the idea of objects concerning the banal became the centre of apprehension for the artist²⁷. This piece held great significance, Bicycle Wheel was a sculptural ready-made that contained movement. This piece was one of the most influential pieces of work in the 20^th century. Dada was against art but to be more specific, Dada were against the old traditions and bureaucracy of art, the ready-made allowed new issues to be explored and developed²⁸.

 

Duchamp's perspective of the world and indeed the motives for many of his pieces were based on the ideology that life was a type of sadistic farce plagued with absurdity not worth investigating²⁹. Many of the Dada artists wanted to express their feelings on this matter. There was a definite satirical undertone to Duchamp's work. When responding to criticism and trying to place himself within the realms of art he would remain self assured using a light-hearted approach. For example Duchamp stated ''Since the tubes of paint used by an artist are manufactured and ready-made products we must conclude that all the paintings in the world are ready-made aided'' ³⁰.

 

Duchamp is best known for his ready-made pieces. These works questioned such issues as the value placed upon art, the measure of skill and aesthetic quality. This in a sense was dismantling what previous epochs had so carefully constructed. The pinnacle piece of Duchamps career was the ready-made sculpture Fountain 1917. This piece was submitted to the Society for Independent Artists with Duchamp using the pseudonym R. Mutt³¹. This piece was not featured in the New York Society for Independent Artist's exhibition. He did not want to impute value on this piece or place it on a pedestal³². Nor did he want to state that art is worthless but that art in a sense is a 'trick' ³³. “The urinal defined good taste, a symbol of the bourgeois culture Duchamp was opposed to” ³⁴.

 

The Dadaist were more of a political movement, less connected than previous epochs. This was a time for great change in art as opposed to great art. A strong emphasis was put into meetings like those held in the Cabaret Voltaire for politics among themselves rather than politics for the greater good of society. The Dada movement published manifestos and regular publications. The Dada mission to be absurd and flippant contravened many efforts for serious change. The Swiss, German and American groups of Dada all had similar aims but all encountered similar dilemmas.

 

The art or in a sense the non-art of the Dadaist was laden with irony and contradiction. As Duchamp stated ''Dada is nothing''. This period in art was considerably different to most American art due to Dada being greatly Parisian or European in thinking³⁵. One's perspective on Dadaism can be quite subjective. To some this movement can be viewed as destructive and commonplace, these two qualities can also be seen as a positive which contributed greatly to the development of contemporary arts practice. Dada was a movement of artists against art. This was the common aim and ambition. This goal was fraught with difficulties, many artists including Hugo Ball became disillusioned with the developments in Dada. After the decline of Dada, Neo-Dada which imitated the common philosophy later emerged³⁶.

 

Dada's importance or indeed legacy was not initially recognised. It is only after many decades of exploring and developing this philosophy and the endeavours that the Dadaist strived to express that the true significance of Dadaism could be appreciated. Dada was a movement of artists against art, or to be more specific; artists against the meaninglessness void in which capitalism had created. This was not a period to destroy previous centuries of artistic development, and did not do so. What Dada set out to accomplish was to reassess art's importance and value which created a renewed purpose of expression.

 

 

Bibliography

 

Books:

 

 

Brettell, Richard R, Modern Art 1851-1929, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999.

 

Gordon, Mel, Dada Performance, New York, PAJ Publications, 1987.

 

Hapgood, Susan, Neo Da-da Redefining Art 1958-62, New York, The American Federation of Arts, 1994.

 

Hopkins, David, Dada and Surrealism – A very short introduction, New York, Oxford, 2004.

 

Hughes, Robert, The shock of the new and the century of change, London, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1993.

 

Hulten, Pontus, Marcel Duchamp, London, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1993.

 

Mink, Janis, Marcel Duchamp 1887-1968 Art as Anti-Art, Cologne, Taschen, 2004.

 

Naumann, Francis M, New York Dada 1915-1923, New York, Harry N.Abrams, Incorporated, 1994.

 

Richter, Hans, Dada art and anti art, London, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1978.

 

Short, Robert, Dada and Surrealism, London, John Calmann & Cooper Limited, 1980.

 

Verkauf, Willy, Dada Monograph Of A Movement, New York, St.Martin's Press Inc., 1975.