Dada is a movement within art that started in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916. One of the most influential figures in this movement was Hugo Ball (1886-1927) who is often considered to be the founder of this movement. Hugo Ball opened the “Cabaret Voltaire” which was a hot spot for artists and a very common place for artists to exchange their ideas. It acted as kind of a think tank for Dada artists. A lot of the artists in this movement were immigrants from other parts of Europe that fled to neutral Switzerland because of the first world war. They were pacifists that wanted to rebel through their art which is why the tried to create something radically new that doesn’t conform to the old norms.

The fundamental characteristics

“Dada comes from the dictionary. It is terribly simple. In French it means ‘hobby horse.’ In German it means ‘good-bye,’ ‘Get off my back,’ ‘Be seeing you sometime.’ In Romanian: ‘Yes, indeed, you are right, that's it. But of course, yes, definitely, right.’ And so forth.“ is what Hugo Ball writes in his Dada Manifesto(1916). This shows the fundamental philosophy of the Dada movement. It is about acknowledging the fact that the course of history and everything in the world is irrational and random on a fundamental scale. This is the reason why a big part of the Dada aesthetic are seemingly random words and objects combined in a way that seems chaotic and without any structure. The name “Dada” is supposed to sound banal and to convey a message that is the polar opposite of pretentious. Another characteristic of Dada art is that the artist’s intend was not to create art that looks appealing or art that is beautiful. Some even tried to make their art as visually unpleasant as possible.

(img source: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/491947959274292552/)

Aesthetic

As mentioned above the aesthetic can mainly be summarized by one word: chaotic. You can see how this concept can be implemented in the picture above. It is called“Schnitt mit dem Küchenmesser Dada durch die letzte Weimarer Bierbauchkulturepoche Deutschlands”, translated “cut with the kitchen knife Dada through Germany's last Weimar beer culture epoch”, by Hannah Höch painted in 1919. The title of this work already encompasses the spirit of Dada. It is a combination of seemingly random words that do not make the impression of belonging together. The title looks as if it was created by putting snippets of a dictionary together. The overall look of the picture also resembles this look. This type of collage was a very common form used by Dada artists to express themselves. The collage features many different objects that seem opposed to each other: a car and a picture of a city right next to a cow or big industrial machinery next to a picture of Karl Marx. You can also find incoherent words across the collage that add to the overall aesthetic. While most of the picture has a slightly yellow colour to it there are also black and white, blue or red spots which gives the whole picture an unfinished feel. This is a textbook example of a work from the Dada era: Chaos, random words and unconventional beauty.

Apart from collages another popular format for Dada artists was the sound poem which doesn’t consist of words but is made up of sounds. Below you can see one prominent example by Hugo Ball which is supposed to represent a herd of elephants. He presented it wearing a very unique costume you can see beneath.

(img source:http://blog.goethe.de/dlite/archives/102-dadaweekly-Hugo-Ball-Karawane.html)

Influence on today

Although Dada was a very short movement in art, it is believed to have already ended in 1922, it is still very relevant till this day. Dada is often considered to mark the beginning of modern art which makes it one of the most important movements in art in the 20th century. While you probably will not find any artist today that would categorize himself in this movement modern pop art is unthinkable without the influence of Dada. Especially the colourful collages can be seen everywhere in pop culture.

(img source: http://www.sallyedelsteincollage.com/gallery.html?folio=&gallery=ATOMIC%20PASSION)

Are you interested in philosophy? Check out my latest article on Arthur Schopenhauer:
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@apartphilosopher/arthur-schopenhauer-radical-pessimism

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