Reaction Paper On Dada

The origins of the practice of assemblage can be traced back to its early twentieth century roots based on ideas presented by Dadaists. The Dada movement was a literary and artistic movement during the First World War and further developed as a non-art movement. The main idea of Dada was to not follow a uniform rule of what an artwork entails in order to be valued. This movement was significant in the development and history of art as it challenged society with new ideas therefore provoking change in our perspective of what can be classified as aesthetically pleasing and all the possibilities of what art

Impactful across the globe, both Dada and Surrealism were artistic movements created in the early 20th century that were significant in redefining modern art today. The Dada movement came about in 1916 through the performance of Hugo Ball’s sound poem “Karawane” at the Cabaret Voltaire that he opened with his partner, nightclub singer Emmy Hennings, in Zurich, Switzerland. The poem made absolutely no sense, purposely, and it didn’t have to. Ball would also dress in wild costumes for his performances as seen below:

Similarly in rejection to the current reality, the Dada movement protested logic and reason. Established by Tristan Tzara who wrote a Manifesto for the movement stating the Dada is, “a protest with it’s whole being engaged in destructive action.” Ironically, the reality the Dadaists was protesting against was World War 1, but their response to the war increased violence. It was the disgust of the false, good manners and incomprehensible logic of the politicians and those in power that the Dadaists criticized. The rage of the war merely justified their destructive spontaneity. Relating to the surrealists, they believed the simplest act consists of going out into the streets, revolver in hand and firing at random into the crowd as often as possible. Surrealist Louis Aragon encouraged such responses saying, “I have always placed the spirit of revolt above any politics.” Although the surrealists emerged with a stronger focus

Anti-everything, Dadaists conceived all things as arbitrary. Wielding “irrational attitudes,” they “attacked traditional artistic values” and “provoked conservative complacency with outrageous statements and actions” (Dadaism). Not only that, but they “also launched a full scale assault on the art world which they saw as part of the system” that needed to be overturned (Dadaism). Typically done in the form of idiosyncratic collages, they fully embraced individuality and artistic

Ernst was not only the primary pioneer of Surrealism but also the pioneer of the Dada movement. He was a German painter, poet, sculptor, and graphic artist whose work still remains influential. Max Ernst’s vision of the modern world as irrational became the basis of his artwork. He mocked social conventions and highly criticized the western culture. Among the most famous of Ernst’s works are Celebes (1921), Here Everything is Still Floating (1920), Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale (1924), and The Fireside Angel (1937) among

Dadaism was an artistic and literary movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland (“Dada,” sec 1). Dadaism was derived as a result of World War I and the nationalism that many people believe had led to war. This time period was influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism and Expressionism. It was “widely diverse” period of time, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting and collage (“Dada,” sec 1). Dadaism was known for its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes. It had an influence on artists in other cities, including Berlin, Hanover, New York, and Cologne, all of which went to create their own groups. Dadaism was the first conceptual art movement where the focus of the artists was not on the

Dadaism came into the world to confuse all the peers that look upon the work of art each person made to express themselves, this can be for emotion, reaction, love or maybe just because they want to confuse everyone. It all began in 1915, the movement instantly caught fire and spread practically everywhere, no matter where you looked there was some sort of DADA to be seen. Sometimes you didn’t even know it! The artist found inside of this essay will be: Max Ernst, Hannah Hoch and finally Johannes Baader.

While so many Modernists rejected the tools and medium of “fine art” to make art of “everyday crap” using advertisements, packaging, newspapers, cardboard, commodities and rubbish, there may be several reasons for this, including opposition to consumerism, opposition to the previous movements and desire to draw distinctions, and the lack of resources and the need to make one’s living. As stated in the Dada Manifesto, “When a writer or artist is praised by the newspapers, it is a proof of the intelligibility of his work: wretched lining of a coat for public use; tatters

He explains how various disciplines – such as photography, film, and typography – were not “immune to the programme of Modernism”1. The author uses an example of such through a photographer called Aleksandr Rodchenko, who viewed photography as a chance to shift away from conventional painting through objective realism. He discusses the ‘belly-button’ viewpoint, and how this paved the way for objective realism in photography: “this viewpoint gave me an impression of its massiveness [the Eiffel Tower] and constructiveness.” . Ultimately, Rodchenko was advocating for an extension for the way in which photography defined reality. At this time, other artists used photography in purely abstract forms, for instance, experimentation in paintings. Pop art is also outlined in the book as a major reaction against the elitism of International Modernism in the 1950s and 1960s. Pop Art is distinguished as an extension of the Dadaism movement, through its socially concerned

The year of 1914 marked the beginning of World War I and the commencement of a tumultuous era for politics, society and art. Amongst the considerable number of people negatively affected by the dreadfulness of the war, many of them found different ways of expressing their repugnance towards the horrific routes that humanity had taken. The Dada movement in particular began not only as a reaction against the war but also as a commentary on the social circumstances that lead to it. This essay reflects on the context that allowed the art movement to flourish and the circumstances that lead to its decline. The rise of machinery, mass production, fascism and overall disillusionment with society provided an ideal environment for radical movements to emerge.

In this essay, I will be discussing the two movements ‘Dada’ and ‘Futurism’, with reference to their conceptual contexts and representative plays, there will also be analysis to how these two movements contrast to realism/ naturalism. Links will also be made to the plays, with the use of scholarly sources to back up the argument and then coming to a final conclusion at the end of the essay.

Throughout history we can find many art movements that caused great controversy but the dada movement is one that continues to cause great controversy even now with their use of read-made objects. Ready-made objects are a strong source of controversy because it pushes the borders of concepts and meaning by using artworks that they didn’t create themselves. In this essay I will address why readymades’ are regarded as a work of art despite the controversy behind them and how they influenced conceptual art.

Around this time there was also the works within the Fluxus and Happening movement that focus on the ‘everyday’ mimicking and unnatural life through Dada using contemporary dance. More performances using Dada started to emerge. Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni used Duchamp’s versions of Dada by having the public sing. Other artist copied that by having the audience become a part of their works. One of the concerns around the 60’s when performance art was really starting to become more common was the idea that the art work wasn’t lasting. One of the main reasons art has always been so popular was to make the artist or person in the art work immortal. People have a constant fear of death. Artist using performance art are a part of an unstable system, with the idea that a performance can easily be forgotten or disappearance rather than being

Kusama is a conceptual artist and self-proclaimed ‘obsessive’, whose daring works has been dealing with notions of repetition. Her stunning and wildly abstract composition of dots, the ‘Obliteration Room’ is entirely covered with endless coloured dots, which is a representation of the artist’s psyche, wherein hallucinations have haunted her since childhood. She utilized “ready-made” materials, stickers to create her immersive installation. Kusama’s ongoing obsession with repetition creates an infinity perception of the space, which creates an illusory atmosphere that confuses the viewer’s perception and spatial orientation. The unique sensory and psychological experience enables each viewer to momentarily get “lost” in Kusama’s mesmerizing world. The choice of a domestic environment with specifically local characteristics is intended to create an air of familiarity that makes participants, especially children, comfortable to engage with the installation with little or no prompting. Kusama really fits into art history, and she was there in late Surrealism and the birth of Pop Art. She has a relationship to Minimalism and in the beginnings of performing art, but she was never attached to any one movement for very long. Ultimately, we can see that Kusama challenged the prevailing moral frameworks to engage the audience in a different

This paper is an explanatory paper by a cultured gentleman on Avant-Garde art and the challenges facing Avant-Garde. More specifically, it comes off as a rant against the bourgeois and proletariat for failing to appreciate Avant-Garde art and instead preferring to art he calls the rear-guard art or Kitsch. This work was printed by the Parisian review during fall, 1939.