Dada Art Movement – Making Mischief

Origins of Dada

Dada was an artistic and literary movement launched in Zurich in 1916. The Dadaists channelled their revulsion at World War I into indicting the nationalist and materialist values that had brought it about. They were united not by a common style but by rejecting conventions in art and thought.

Influence on Visual Design

As a designer, I am passionate about the history of art and its influence on ‘visual design.’ In art history, Dada is the artistic movement that preceded Surrealism; it began in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916, by primarily painters and painters. Dada’s artworks challenged preconceived notions of what art meant. Many Dadaists felt that the way to salvation was through political anarchy, natural emotions, the intuitive, and the irrational.

Relation to World War One

Dadaism is closely linked to the war experience of World War One. It peaked between 1916 and 1920 and introduced an anti-war narrative. Dada was a movement that assailed art conventions through the use of absurdity. Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain of 1917 is a standard urinal signed and displayed as a sculpture. Kurt Schwitters produced Merzbild, which were collages made up of various paper fragments.

The origin of the term “DaDa”, coined in 1916, is still doubtful.  The popular version is that a French-German dictionary opened randomly produced the word “DaDa,” meaning a child’s rocking horse.   The term perhaps satisfied the desire for something irrational and nonsensical. Others suggest that Romanian “Da da da da da” (“yes, yes”).  Irrespective of its origin, the name DaDa is the central mocking symbol of this attack on established movements that characterised twentieth-century art.

Dada – Anti-Art

Hannah Hoch perfected the photomontage technique. Her works depict the absurd illogic of Dada with “chaotic, contradictory, and satirical compositions.”

“Equilibre” was typical of Dada and was created in 1925.  The following piece has a collage-like quality.  The theme of balance was addressed in many of Hoch’s works.

Dada art can be described in many ways: humorous, complex, ironic, and mischievous. Materials range from found or disposable objects and assemblages to watercolour, oil, and wood.

Sources

Pile, J. (1994). Dictionary of 20th-Century Design. Da Capo Press, Incorporated. https://doi.org/10.1604/9780306805691

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