Dada, Briefly
If I shout:
Ideal, Ideal, Ideal
Knowledge, Knowledge, Knowledge
Boomboom, Boomboom, Boomboom
—Dada Manifesto by Tristan Tzara, March 23, 1918
As befits an art movement that set out to confound, the name “Dada” is deliberate nonsense. The founders, outraged by the senseless destruction of World War I, came together in the early 20th century to explore ideas of chaos and culture, challenging the nature of art itself. (It was under Dadaism that Marcel Duchamp notoriously hung a urinal in an art gallery and called it art.)
Although both an art and literary movement, this class will focus on Dada’s more-famous visual arts aspect. We’ll provide an overview of Dadaist artists and their major works, emphasizing Dada’s relevance to contemporary art movements.
We’ll also perform an Exquisite Corpse, a Surrealist exercise inspired in part by Dada’s obsession with absurdity. The exercise involves drawings and collages created and assembled into one large work.
Location
Doris-Mae Gallery
1716 14th St. NW
2nd Floor
Washington,
DC
Neighborhood: U Street
Past event