Dada

The anti-art born of war disgust: chance, nonsense, and sabotage at Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire.

Specifications & Metrics

era

1916 – 1924

region

Zurich, then Paris, Berlin, New York

key figures

Tristan Tzara, Hugo Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp

exemplar

Cabaret Voltaire performances (1916); Fountain (1917)

introduced

1916

Core Principles & Analysis

• Founded at Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire in 1916 amid the Great War.
• Duchamp's urinal 'Fountain' of 1917 weaponized readymade nonsense.
• Dada negated art until Surrealism gave the negation a program.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Dada