Dadaism in Modern Society

Dadaism in the Modern World

The Danger of Definitions: Dadaism and its Modern Manifestations

Though there have been countless movements and representations of rejections of convention in the history of modern art in many cases these standards were developed by individuals acting in accordance with the idea that "this is how I see the world: love it or leave it" and hopefully love it as leave it doesn't pay the bills. Yet, with Dadaism, though there is a core few conceptual founders the movement is demonstrative of a collective of artists seeking to challenge convention. This work will briefly define Dadaism, as much as this is possible, provide a few representative examples and lastly and most importantly provide a unique analysis of how Dadaism can be seen reflected in art and life in the present time.

The Dadaists wished to let people know that regardless of the fact that the artist has nothing to do or say regarding acceptance and appreciation for one's art, i.e. The concept of the spectator as the defining aspect in "success" of the reception of one's creative endeavors (Duchamp 818-819) the Dada artists cares not for beauty and/or "success" in the sense of the material or the definition. Tristan Tazara, the person most often associated as one of the founders of Dadaism was mainly a poet as was Hugo Boss the cofounder of the movement. Tazara's most foundational contribution to Dadaism can be found in his Dada Manifesto (1918):

And so Dada was born of the need for independence, of a distrust toward unity. Those who are with us preserve their freedom. We recognize good theory. We have enough cubist and futurist academies: laboratories of formal ideas. Is the aim of art to make money and cajole the nice bourgeoisie? Rhymes ring with the assonance of the currencies and the inflexion slips along the line of the belly in profile. All groups of artists have arrived at this trust company after riding their steeds on various comets. While a door remains open to the possibility of wallowing in cushions and good things to eat. […] (Tazara 250)

Dadaism demonstrates an attempt to reject convention, to build an aesthetic that does not reflect reality is a port according to Dadaists reality is corrupted as is beauty and everything that defines it so making artistic objects that are representative of classic beauty is an assault to Dadaism. The movement stressed three dimensional rather

Figure 1

Hugo Ball,

recitation of the sound poem "

Karawane

," 1917 than two dimensional works and works of what is often now referred to as found art or everyday objects incorporated to make an artistic expression, what Duchamp refers to as "readymade" or "reciprocal readymade" where the artists takes a found object and amends it in some manner to build an artwork. (819-820) Additionally, those two dimensional works associated with Dadaism were often multimedia such as collages and amended or manipulated photography of objects and/or actions that would be considered unconventional or absurd or even in its early stages performance type art, such as the representative "reading" of the sound poem Karawane by Hugo Ball (see figure 1 above).

Some Additional Examples of Dadaist Art

Having as fully as possible defined Dadaism it is essential now to offer the reader a few examples of other works considered "Dada," which according to Tzara means "nothing." (249-250) As it has been stated Dadaism was fully intended to defy definitions and descriptions and built on the premise that it was exclusively unconventional, but not in the ways that other modern art movements have been considered unconventional. Additionally, the movement is also not divorced of its context, especially as a rejection of war. Here are a few examples of Dadaist art:

Figure 2

Marcel

Janco

, untitled (mask, portrait of Tristan

Tzara

, cardboard, paper, glue, string, crayon, 1919

(left)

Figure 3

Hannah

Hoch

Cut With the Kitchen Knife Through the First Epoch of the Weimar Beer-Belly

Culture,

oil, watercolor, crayon, collage, on paper, 1919

(right)

Figure 4

Raoul

Hausmann

The Art Critic

, photomontage and collage, 12.5x10," 1919-1920

(left)

Figure 5

Andre Breton as a sandwich man (by Francis

Picabia

) at Dada festival, Paris, March 27, 1920

(right)

Figure 6

Manifeste

cannibale dada by Francis

Picabia

, read at the Dada soiree at the Theatre

de la

Maison

de l'Oeuvre

, Paris, 27 March 1920.

You are all indicted; stand up! Stand up as you would for the Marseillaise

or God

Save

the King

Dada alone does not smell: it is nothing, nothing, nothing

It is like your hopes: nothing.

like your paradise: nothing.

like your idols: nothing.

like your politicians: nothing.

like your heroes: nothing.

like your artists: nothing.

like your religions: nothing.

Hiss, shout, kick my teeth in, so what? I shall still tell you that you are half-wits. In three months my friends and I will be selling you our pictures for a few francs.

Novaro

307)Above one can see the themes of absurd as well as meaningful social commentary, the first represents a portrait of the founder of Dadaism, the second a social and political commentary on the Weimer government, those in power prior to the ascension of the leadership of Germany by Hitler's party, the third a general comment of an art critic, the fourth time based art representation of the absurd. During the performance when the last photograph was taken the center of it, Andre Breton recited the artist's (Francis Picabia) so called Manifeste cannibale dada (see figure 6). This manifesto also serves to succinctly illustrate the ideal of Tazara and Dadaism in general. The ideals associated with these examples are clearly a rejection of the status quo and a rejection that intentionally flies in the face of the definitions of art, lastly, the ideals that stress that life in the modern world involves a certain amount of cannibalism, or mans' unnecessary cruelty to man. To some extent the idea was to alter those very definitions and allow its practitioners to build art for art's sake and of course to provide what the artist believed was necessary social commentary. (Weiss 253) The final pictorial example of Dadaism as an expression of the absurd is a photograph of the installation work Merzbau by Kurt Schwitters, Merzbau, an installation that he intermingled with his own living space, in three successive locations, having to do in part with his exile from Nazi Germany when he was designated by the regime as a "degenerate artist." The work thematically displays the people and themes he experienced in his life offering homage to them through "grottos." Schwitters attempted to demonstrate that art should be a part of everyday life, not something we separate ourselves from by a golden rope. (West 90)

Figure 7

Kurt

Schwitters

Merzbau

, mixed media, 1924-37 Having loosely defined Dadaism and provided some representative examples of it, this work will move on to a unique analysis of how Dadaism is reflected in our society today. The remainder of this work will argue that Dadaism began a foundational tradition of artistic expression that is pervasive in examples of art and cultural expression in the modern world. Some relevant examples of Dadaism in present include art examples that are demonstrative of Dadaism influence on Time Based Art (TBA) which provides ample examples of the Dadaist tradition.

Time Based Art

When one thinks of time based art in the sense of high art, there are countless regional examples all over the world where festivals and foundations showcase art that is transient to some degree, such as performance art and/or theatrical presentations that take place in one time in one context and sometimes even stress audience participation as a key. One U.S. example this writer can think of is the annual Portland Oregon-based Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) TBA festival where individuals and groups descend on the city of Portland to create art that is boasted to be occurring somewhere at all times during the festival in the city with visual arts displays as well as performance productions occurring in nearly every corner of the city for the length of the two-week festival. Pictorial examples of this festival are plentiful but the most recent 2011 festival provides a particularly interesting social commentary TBA piece worth inclusion here:

The Portland Northwest College of Art (PNCA) production entitled

Disorientalism: Ready Mix where performance artists demonstrate the modern emphasis on junk culture, best described by its collaborative performance group:

Figure 8 Pictorial representation of the performance team that is the genesis of the TBA

Disorientalism

: Ready Mix

2011

Disorientalism's preoccupation with junk culture translates into junk food, as Ready Mix stirs up the story of Aunt Jemima's century-long makeover from "slave mammy" to "modern working mother." This project is the second chapter of The Food Groups, a five-part series focusing on race and labor in American food production and promotion. One-by-one, the Disorientals will encounter five historical food industry characters: Wendy of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, Aunt Jemima, Land O'Lakes' Indian Maiden, Sun-Maid, and Chiquita Banana. In their encounters with these iconic identities, the duo undertakes efforts to erase the distinction between the depersonalized production and the personalized promotion of industrial food. (PICA TBA 2011)

This work is an open air performance that is dependent on pictorial still shots to reflect the event. This work is a production that exemplifies the influence of Dadaism in the present, but it also represents accepted "high art" as it has evolved over the years. The festival also of course represents gallery art emphasizing photography, found art and installation works, also demonstrative of Dadaism. TBA is a modern manifestation of an acceptable area of artistic expression and there are TBA festivals all over the world that represent this type of influence.

In the spirit of Dadaism this work will look now at examples outside of the area of what is considered "high art." The first obvious example that comes to mind is the Burning Man Festival. This festival is a large scale example of TBA that occurs annually in the Nevada Desert and demonstrates the building of a virtual community in the dessert peopled by individuals from all over the world for a period of 8 days (Black Rock City being the name given to the temporary town complete with a city plan of roads and information infrastructure, including a newspaper). The individual at the festival are encouraged to dress and express their creativity in everything they do, including elaborate artistic vehicles for transportation, TBA installations for public tour, parades and countless other examples of artistic expression, often demonstrative of social commentary. The festival centers around a giant wooden sculpture of a man that is then burned in effigy at the close of the event but it is also much more than that single development. ("Burning Man; Desert Celebration" A02)

Figure 9, 2009 Burning man vehicle build.

Telegraph,

2009)

Figure 10 Deviant Art Blog post featuring a burning man performance art installation ND

Though much of burning man is an artistic expression it is also a niche aspect of popular culture. It is supported by a small group of artists who "make it happen" each year and do not expect to be included in mainstream high art. In part the location demonstrates this desire as few non-participants actually venture to the unforgiving desert to view the art. It is therefore art for art's sake and viewed by a small number of people who have great interest in it and are a part of its production usually in some way.

Another Dadaist example of TBA that is not a part of mainstream art is the social phenomena know as the flash mob, or more recently other internet sensations such as "planking." Regardless of the fact that these phenomena are examples of pop culture they are also to some degree expressive of the Dadaist ideal. They are at first absurd, they represent "nothing" and second time-based or fleeting expressions of an artistic idea, sometimes including aspects of social commentary sometimes just intended as absurd and fun. Some examples of flash mobs that this writer can think of is the Jami Oliver dance mob featured in his television program, Food Revolution which is a social commentary on the USDA school food program and its poor quality. Students and Marshall University along with Jamie himself created a flash mob choreographed routine the stressed how simple it was to cook and eat healthy even in a hurry. While performing a dance each individual prepared a full healthy meal. The message is clearly a social commentary that is positive and the video representation of it is moving. Another flash mob example is the flash mob that gets together dressed as if they are in a Michael Jackson Thriller video and performs the dance featured in the video, in a large public place. There are countless examples of such events which can be seen as a popular culture expression of Dadaism with an emphasis on TBA. Planking is another internet "video" "photographic" sensation that represents the invasion of Dadaism in the modern world. The practice is associated with individuals laying flat and still on very odd objects in public, like bank teller drive through kiosks and such while another films or photographs it for posterity. There are also many examples of these types of TBA events online.