Dadaism and Its Modern Manifestations in Art and Culture

Introduction: The Danger of Defining Dadaism

Though there have been countless movements representing rejections of convention throughout the history of modern art, in many cases these movements 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, since leaving it doesn't pay the bills. With Dadaism, however, though there are 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 that is possible — provide a few representative examples, and, most importantly, offer a unique analysis of how Dadaism can be seen reflected in art and life in the present day.

Dadaist Principles and Founding Voices

The Dadaists wished to make clear that the artist bears no responsibility for — and has no say in — the acceptance and appreciation of their art. This principle is related to the concept of the spectator as the defining element in the "success" of one's creative endeavors (Duchamp 818–819). The Dada artist cares not for beauty or for "success" in any material or definitional sense.

Tristan Tzara, the person most often associated with founding Dadaism, was primarily a poet, as was Hugo Ball, the co-founder of the movement. Tzara'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. […] (Tzara 250)

Dadaism represents an attempt to reject convention and to build an aesthetic that does not reflect reality — or rather, one that insists reality itself is corrupted, as is beauty and everything that defines it. To create artistic objects representative of classical beauty is, in the Dadaist view, an assault on the movement's core values. The movement stressed three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional works, and elevated what is often now referred to as found art: everyday objects incorporated into artistic expression. Duchamp describes this as the "readymade" or "reciprocal readymade," in which the artist takes a found object and amends it in some manner to create an artwork (819–820).

Additionally, the two-dimensional works associated with Dadaism were often multimedia in nature — collages and manipulated photography of objects or actions considered unconventional, absurd, or provocative. Even in its early stages, the movement embraced performance-style art, exemplified by Hugo Ball's recitation of his sound poem Karawane (1917), in which Ball appeared in an elaborate costume and delivered an invented phonetic language with theatrical intensity.

Selected Examples of Dadaist Art

Having defined Dadaism as fully as possible, it is essential to offer a few examples of works considered "Dada" — a word that, according to Tzara, means "nothing" (249–250). As noted, Dadaism was fully intended to defy definition and description, built on the premise of exclusive unconventionality — but not in the ways other modern art movements have been considered unconventional. The movement is also inseparable from its historical context, particularly as a rejection of war and the social order that enabled it.

Marcel Janco's untitled mask portrait of Tristan Tzara (cardboard, paper, glue, string, crayon, 1919) represents a portrait of Dadaism's own founder rendered in deliberately crude, non-precious materials. Hannah Höch's Cut With the Kitchen Knife Through the First Epoch of the Weimar Beer-Belly Culture (oil, watercolor, crayon, collage on paper, 1919) offers sharp social and political commentary on the Weimar government — the regime that preceded Hitler's rise to power. Raoul Hausmann's The Art Critic (photomontage and collage, 1919–1920) delivers a general satirical comment on the institution of art criticism itself.

Francis Picabia contributed time-based performance art to the movement, most notably staging a Dada festival in Paris on March 27, 1920, at which André Breton appeared as a sandwich-board man and recited Picabia's Manifeste cannibale dada. The manifesto reads in part:

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)

This manifesto succinctly illustrates the ideals of Tzara and Dadaism in general. These works collectively represent a rejection of the status quo, a refusal of conventional artistic definitions, and a conviction that modern life involves a certain amount of cannibalism — man's unnecessary cruelty to man. To some extent, the aim was to alter those very definitions and to allow practitioners to create art for art's sake while delivering social commentary the artist deemed necessary (Weiss 253).

A final historical example is Kurt Schwitters's installation Merzbau (mixed media, 1924–37), in which he intermingled his artwork with his own living space across three successive locations — in part because of his exile from Nazi Germany, where the regime had designated him a "degenerate artist." The work thematically displays the people and themes he encountered in his life, offering homage to them through what he called "grottos." Schwitters sought to demonstrate that art should be a part of everyday life, not something cordoned off behind a velvet rope (West 90).

Having loosely defined Dadaism and provided representative examples, this work now turns to a unique analysis of how Dadaism is reflected in contemporary society. The argument going forward is that Dadaism established a foundational tradition of artistic expression that remains pervasive in art and cultural expression in the modern world — most notably in examples of Time-Based Art (TBA).

Time-Based Art as a Modern Dadaist Tradition

When one thinks of time-based art in the context of high art, there are countless regional examples around the world where festivals and foundations showcase art that is transient in nature — performance art and theatrical presentations that occur once, in a specific context, and sometimes even stress audience participation as a key element. One notable U.S. example is the annual Portland, Oregon-based Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) TBA festival, where artists and groups descend on the city to create art that is occurring somewhere at virtually all times during the festival. Visual arts displays and performance productions take place in nearly every corner of the city across the length of the two-week event.

The 2011 festival featured a particularly interesting social commentary TBA piece worth noting here: a production entitled Disorientalism: Ready Mix, described by its collaborative performance group as follows:

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 open-air performance, documented through still photography, exemplifies the influence of Dadaism in the present. It also represents accepted "high art" as it has evolved over the decades. The festival similarly showcases gallery art emphasizing photography, found art, and installation works — all demonstrative of Dadaism's legacy. TBA is a modern manifestation of an accepted mode of artistic expression, and TBA festivals around the world represent this type of influence.

In the spirit of Dadaism, this work now turns to examples outside of what is conventionally considered "high art." The Burning Man Festival is a large-scale example of TBA that occurs annually in the Nevada Desert, building a virtual community for a period of eight days. Black Rock City — the name given to the temporary town, complete with a city plan of roads and an information infrastructure, including a newspaper — is populated by individuals from all over the world. Festival participants are encouraged to express their creativity in everything they do: elaborate artistic vehicles, TBA installations open for public tour, parades, and countless other examples of artistic expression, often carrying social commentary. The festival centers on a giant wooden sculpture of a man that is burned in effigy at the close of the event, though it encompasses much more than that single culminating moment ("Burning Man; Desert Celebration" A02).

Though much of Burning Man constitutes genuine artistic expression, it also occupies a niche within popular culture. It is supported by a dedicated community of artists who make it happen each year without aspiring to inclusion in mainstream high art. The remote location reinforces this orientation, as few non-participants venture to the unforgiving desert to view the work. It is therefore art for art's sake, experienced by a relatively small number of people who share a deep investment in it and typically contribute to its production in some way.

Conclusion

This work briefly defined Dadaism, provided a few selected visual examples, and then explored Dadaism through the modern lens. When one thinks about all the countless modern examples of time-based art and other "absurd" examples of pop culture trends — or even high art examples — the Dadaist tradition proves a helpful interpretive lens. Everything about art in general and Dadaism in particular rests on the capacity of the individual to see the world with new eyes, through an expression of the absurd or otherwise. Understanding Dadaism as a relatively early but foundational representation of the rejection of the status quo, and as a new way of seeing the world, allows one to interpret the modern world through that same lens — especially when one permits the definition of terms like "time-based art" to be applied with the broadest possible scope.

Works Cited

"Björk & Gaga." Web. Dec. 12, 2011.

"Burning Man; Desert Celebration of Self-Expression Grows Each Year." The Washington Times 22 Aug. 2003: A02.

Duchamp, Marcel. "Apropos of 'Readymades.'" Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Eds. Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz. Berkeley: University of California, 1996. 819–20.

Duchamp, Marcel. "The Creative Act." Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Eds. Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz. Berkeley: University of California, 1996. 818–19.

Novaro, Cecilia. Antidiets of the Avant-Garde: From Futurist Cooking to Eat Art. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

PICA. "TBA Festival 2011." Web. Dec. 12, 2011. http://www.pica.org/festival_detail_new.aspx?eventid=739

RockSteadyGirl (blogger). "Burning Man Festival." Deviant Art Blog. Web. Dec. 11, 2011. http://rocksteadygirl.deviantart.com/art/burning-man-festival-128340629

Telegraph. "Burning Man Festival, 2009." Web. Dec. 12, 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/6139700/Playing-with-fire-Burning-Man-Festival-2009-kicks-off-in-the-Nevada-desert.html

Tzara, Tristan. "Dada Manifesto 1918." Art in Theory 1900–1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Eds. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1992. 248–53. Originally published in Dada, no. 3, 1918.

Weiss, Jeffrey S. The Popular Culture of Modern Art: Picasso, Duchamp, and Avant-Gardism. Hong Kong, China: World Print Inc., 1996.

West, Shearer. The Visual Arts in Germany 1890–1937: Utopia and Despair. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2000.