paper on dadaism-visual culture (VA215)

FROM SOCIAL EXPOSITION TO PSYCHIC DISORDER, DADAISM :

JOURNEY OF ANTI-ART AND DECADENCE OF MODERN LIFE

Nihan Somay

Istanbul, 03.11.2008-19.01.2009

The paper will discuss to what extent Dadaism, as an ‘anartist’ reaction, dealt with modern life and what sort of dynamics of the dadaist group have managed to arrange such widespread movement in the middle of Europe in war and in chaos. The focus is not only on a historical overview which endeavours to enlighten the movement itself -from the days of Cabaret Voltaire to German and French Dada- and its organic relations with other ones; but also on the alternating process that Dada has been subjected to from the first emergence in Europe to the current artistic mainstream. The paper will attempt to concretize the mutual influences on simultaneous waves, such as the interaction between Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism and Dadaism. Also a specific analysis will take place on dadaist group – from Duchamp and Picabia to Tzara, Hennings, Arp etc. -

When it comes to mention about several historical data, it would not be wrong to state that the chaotic atmosphere of early 20th century definitively affected the world of individual as well as the sanity of societies. While the central Europe was subjected to momentous changes and incidents, such as World War I and Bolshevik Revolution, the artistic domain began to metamorphose within itself as well. In 1915, Paris and in 1916, Zurich were the witnesses of the one of the most radical reactions of 20th century. Therefore an analysis on geographical relation with Dadaism and these urban centers inevitably will be given space within the work.

Since the movement is generously spread into diverse domains, the main areas which will construct the framework are essentially painting, collage, installation and readymades but also indispensably poetry and music. The framework will be basicly supported by sample works and figures in order to guide the paper on a visual aspect as well.

The paper will continue and conclude by a contemporary approach: Has Dadaism left its marks on today’s art? What sort of connection could be developed between Dada and Neo-Dada? Is Neo-Dada The contemporary reflection of Dadaist movement and is it the only one? The conclusion will focus on answering such problematics.

Keywords: “anartist”, Cabaret Voltaire, French and German Dada, Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, collage, installation, readymade, Neo-Dada

The paper will approach to the subject within three parts:

Introduction: An Introduction To Dadaist Movement: Historical Overthrow In Central Europe and Failure of Modernity

Body: i. Emergence of A Shocking ‘Aesthetic’ In Machine Age (a general view on artistic approach of Dada)

ii. Dada Coming Into Existence: A Flourishing Upheaval (on Dadaist group and emergence of the movement)

iii. An Analysis on Inner Dynamics of “MoUvEmEnT DADA” With A Comparison to Contemporary Movements (interactions and influences)

iv. Dadaist Translations of “Artistic” Tendencies: Paradoxical Collaboration of Creative and Destructive Practices ( a closer look on artistic perception of Dada)

Conclusion: Conclusions In Termes of Relying Dada and Neo-Dada Within A Contemporary Framework: “Work of Art Qua Work of Art ” ? (consequences regarding the approaches to the artistic value of Dada and the relation between Dada and Neo-Dada/avant-garde pioneer and its successor)

AN INTRODUCTION TO DADAIST MOVEMENT: HISTORICAL OVERTHROW IN CENTRAL EUROPE AND FAILURE OF MODERNITY

Modernism, as a celebrated conception by changing social dynamics in 19th century, was standing in an unbalanced and paradoxical position: it promises and encourages the opportunist/pragmatist/conformist lifestyles to masses, whether on the other hand it forces the individual to be a part of transnational competitions, to be possessed by means of consumption –instead of production- and the worst of all to go to war. Inevitably, such situation affected the current activist young groups in order to provoke them to react and to make their own voice instead of joining this modernist madness. Hopkins claims that World War I (1914-1918) and Russian Revolution(1917) definitely influenced the way of understanding the world and that the discoveries Freud and Einstein brought into public eye altered the human awareness [1], which can be explicative in order to enlighten the way Dada followed. Their main concerns were based on the disbelief in modern life -which caused almost 40 millions of people to die in four years with WWI- and constant reaction against its institutions. Dadaism, if considered as a post-modern revolt, according to Pegrum’s interpretation, tends to be against the institutions of modernity which are the roots and hands of modern tradition[2]. Jürgen Habermas also states that Modernity unfolded in various avant-garde movements and that finally reached its climax with Dada in the Cabaret Voltaire[3]. Such approaches determined basic characteristics of dadaist movement and dissimilar understanding Dada put forward as a manifestation of a new “aesthetic”.

EMERGENCE OF A SHOCKING ‘AESTHETIC’ IN MACHINE AGE

Dada, constructing -or deconstructing- and rejecting conventions of modernism and Renaissance art which was considered as a medium to serve the decayed values of bourgeoisie, set a novel understanding in artistic domain which has been defined as “anti-art”, whose declaration had been put forth for consideration by Tristan Tzara: “Art -a parrot word- replaced by DADA, PLEISOSAURUS or handkerchief ”[4]. In these terms, the context of “art” and its content had been subjected to widely radical changes.

At this junction, an analysis on Duchamp’s “ready-mades” seems mandatory. Richter claims that the aim to construct ready-mades, which were defined by Tilman Osterwold as “the everyday consumer product as an object of artistic interest” [5] (also see fig.1), was a response from Marcel Duchamp(1887-1968) to his age which regarded scientific method ‘as the only secure anchor in a sea of nothingness’[6]. Similar to Vertov’s kino-eye mechanism, Duchamp formed an “anti-retinal stance” appealing solely to the eye rather than the intellect [7]. The same non-stylized works were observable in Picabia, Hennings, Arp, Tzara, Ray etc. as well. Mechanical and deconstructive approach is given place also –probably especially- in dadaist poetry, too. Like a sample from Picabia’s work [8],

DADA lui ne sent rien, il n’est rien, rien, rien. DADA, it smells of nothing, it’s nothing, Il est comme vos espoirs: rien nothing, nothing.

comme vos idoles: rien It’s like your hopes: nothing

commes vos hommes politiques: rien like your idols: nothing

comme vos héros: rien like your politicians: nothing

comme vos artistes: rien like your heros: nothing

comme vos religions: rien. * like your artists: nothing

like your religions: nothing.

In this work, Picabia clearly emphasizes the nihilist tendencies of Dada and its challenges. Such distrust to the modernist order, will conduct the dadaists to bring ‘art’ and life together in order to raise an activist voice which aims to expose decayed values of the modern life.

DADA COMING INTO EXISTENCE: A FLOURISHING UPHEAVAL

In 1916, Zurich as a magnet for intellectuals, artists and politicians of the period, witnesses the emergence of “mouvement Dada”. The fact that Zurich is considered to be the center of Dadaism is crucial at that time while defining several characteristics of the movement, such as internationality and antiwar approach. Ribemont-Dessaignes explains it by saying that the first group consisted of a Rumanian (Tristan Tzara), an Alsatian (Hans Arp) and two Germans (Hugo Ball and Richard Huelsenbeck) [9] which makes sense when the universal-nationless character of Dada is taken into account. Such diversity within Dada gave it the impulse to focus on the ‘general’/the whole in every aspect. Like opposition to all the values of bourgeoisie or all the art schools. This aim of maintaining a “general”/overall attitude became one of the main distinctions of the movement in comparison with the other ones. On the other hand, Zurich defines another important trait of Dada with its socio-political position in early 20th century. “Switzerland was at that time [...] a gathering-place for everyone in Central Europe who wanted to get away from the war.” [10] states Ribemont-Dessaignes which contributes to the fact that Dada found its followers in such atmosphere without war but potency of revolt. Intellectuals, poets, writers, painters… in favour of a certain pacifist attitude got together and separated into several activist groups. Hugo Ball(1886-1921) one of the leading figures decided to open Cabaret Voltaire(1916) in the Spiegelgasse and gathered the artistic environmental together in order to earn a living by putting forward their mind through a series of paintings, engravings to sell and performances including poems. With the participation of Richard Huelsenbeck (1892-1974) and Francis Picabia (“anti-painter”/1879-1953) the group was officially born and began to come into prominence among the others[11]. Simultaneously Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia -before joining the Zurich circle- started Dada in New York (closely with the same reasons to refuge in Zurich). Duchamp was a radical in terms of rejecting “craft associations of visual art” and “importance of manual skill” turned towards ready-mades. At this point one should remember his famous Fountain (figure 1) for the New York Society of Independent Artists exhibition in 1917 which became a symbol of Dada [12] in terms of reflecting their artistic approach in a practical and intellectual manner.

Figure 1 Fountain, Marcel Duchamp(signed as “R. Mutt”), 1917, ready-made(length 64 cm/24 inches), New York.

AN ANALYSIS ON INNER DYNAMICS OF “MoUvEmEnT DADA” WITH A COMPARISON TO CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENTS

In order to elaborate the multi component “structure” of Dada, it seems necessary to focus on problematics exposed by the “anartists” and their rejections. Hassan(1987) defines these focal points mainly as oppositions to modernism by claiming that Modernity created an “artistic Authority” through its own forms, whereas post-modernism, as an emergent from Dadaism and Surrealism, is tended toward “artistic Anarchy” and that the inclination of Dada towards the “artistic Anarchy” constituted a certain interaction between post-modernism and Dadaism, since they both emerged from an idea based on “lack of center” .

Dadaists named their work as “anti-art” which is a reference to rejecting all the values associated with traditional art based on the principles of Renaissance and Enlightenment. Pegrum explains this refusal by Dadaist attack on art establishment and heritage which are blamed to be isolated from life and subservient to the values of bourgeoisie; and adds that the radical reaction of Dada versus institutionalized art is also originated from its failure “to warn or protest against the oncoming onslaught of the First World War”[13]. In this sense, the reaction does not include solely war, bourgeoisie, or art but also very basic ideal conceptions such as humanism, utopias, science&technology, history etc.

Even though Dadaism has much in common with its several contemporaries suh as Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism… it puts forth a certain amount of distinction as well. With a comparison to Cubism, one might reach the result that Dada definitively has some cubist influences such as simultaneism, collage, usage of every day ‘found’ materials [14], however Cubism never became as activist and protest as Dada. “L’Art n’est qu’une viande molle et froide, les cubistes se nourissent de cette viande” [15] (Art is nothing but limp and cold flesh; and the cubists are nourished by it *the translation is mine)says Picabia which makes a reference to their critical approach towards Cubism that is to accuse it being another subservient of art.

When it comes to Futurism a similar situation is observable. Dadaism and Futurism have the same rejection of the past[16]whereas Futurism developped a praise to the futur. When the “whole” rejection of Dada is mentioned, the point was exactly this. Dada refuses not only past, but also futur with its all possible utopies. Expressionism also served to Dada by its rebellious and dynamic tendencies towards the irrational and refusal of bourgeoisie kind of sterility [17].

DADAIST TRANSLATIONS OF “ARTISTIC” TENDENCIES: PARADOXICAL COLLABORATION OF CREATIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE PRACTICES

In order to reveal and further analyze the aims and efforts of Dadaists, the paper will revise the artistic approaches exposed(even performed) by these artists to the relationship between society and art. In particular it will be analyzed the functional interactions between artists regarding the relationship to the aesthetic value of their public perfomances both as art objects and as tools of self promotion.

David Locher by arguing that Dadaists perceived the whole process of artistic production as a course of experiences, claimed that especially public performances targeted such connections between society and the artist, “alliance with masses”[18] Locher also states that the Dadaist perceive art-making process as a production of “moments” and “happenings”[19] These improvisational tendencies of Dadaism have taken place in many of the artistic creations of these movement (performances, poetry and music) and inspired subsequent movements, such as Surrealism, that aimed at releasing the subconscious into the ‘public domain’ through their artworks.

The focus on interactional characteristic of Dada with the public leads the work to analyze another conception put forward by the group itself. Dada declares a new type of man emerged amid the chaos of 20th century and delusion of modernity. Foster argues that this new man, the “un-man” tends to possess “a radical passivity not only as a mode of defense (as Freud might say) but as a form of jouissance”[20] which is strongly related to nihilist character and dramatic critical of lunatic individual, modernity madness, insanity of societies given voice by Dada regarding the tight relation between exploitative (political/economic/social)systems and the individual. Hugo Ball in his journal defines/questions the puzzling content of the movement:

Dadaism- a game in fancy dress, a laughingstock? And behind it a syn-

thesis of the romantic, dandystic, and demonic theories of the nineteenth

century? [21]

The intentions of an “un-man”, namely a Dadaist seem to be problematic while he/she tends to interact with the society qua his/her artwork, since they claimed that there was no artistic aim in their mind set, in other words no tendency to influence the public by their artistic capability and therefore, self promotion. Also the togetherness between Dadaists and the society should be taken in consideration as well. In this context, the cause of such duality(with or without the society) lies under the intention of creating an “aesthetic catharsis”[22] which is an incorregible desire to shock the spectator with an extremely modified understanding of aesthetic (a piece of magazine, a fountain, a mechanical nude, complex collages etc.) in order to convey their radical ideas and “extraordinary satire”. Edward T. Kelly approaches to the matter in an aesthetically analyzing manner:

Through the alchemy of creative transformation, a simple printed word

acquires a new existence as something fundamentally distinct from, and

more aesthetically valuable than journalistic fragment.[23]

Kelly’s approach explains the connection between creative and destructive duality of Dada which aims to create a certain kind of shift/shock in viewer’s mind and vision by distorting the stereotyped forms of artistic production and destructing the spectator’s encrusted perception.

At this juncture, while mentioning the general attitude of Dadaist genre, certain fundamental features on artistic production of the movement must be included within the context. In these terms, it would not be wrong to claim that Dadaist group achieved a series of radical changes in the domain of art and brought a whole novel understanding of the aesthetic. Altered definition of the “artistic labor” is one of the most crucial attempts put forth by Dadaist group. “Marcel Duchamp’s investigation of the readymade definitively substituted the act of (artistic) production with consumption, purchasing his sculptures already made. As much as this act constituted an attack on the original and unique art object, it also displayed an enormous degree of ambivalence toward historical definitions of artistic skill and, by extension, the traditional labor of the artist.” [24] states Helen Molesworth by arguing that Dada did not only play with conventional and institutionalized perception of art but also with the whole process of art practice. Molesworth continues by adding that the emergence of new forms of labor evolves artist’s immediate relation with his/her work; to shop, to edit, to arrange… are certain new elements that participated to creative process. Molesworth makes another crucial point on the novel manner of Dadaism which is the role of chance usually in forms of spontaneity, randomness, improvisation.

[...] objet trouvé or automatic drawing, chance allowed the artist to relinquish control over the final work of art and, in doing so, diminished both the amount and effect of his or her labor .[25]

Conclusions In Terms of Relying Dada and Neo-Dada Within A Contemporary Framework: “Work of Art Qua Work of Art” ?

The issues related to Dadaism were approached within a historical context and therefore a final analysis will focus on the connection between perceptions emerged in early 20th century (primary attempts of Dada) and late20th-21st centuries (with the emergence of Neo-Dada).

Helen Molesworth states that William Rubin (his famous exhibition in 1968), Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg are the major names of the new movement by adding that it would be reasonable to perceive Neo-Dada as an “intermediary step between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art”[26] . The emergence of Neo-Dada occurs in United States which is a fact definitively attachable to the presence of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray in USA. Duchamp and Ray were highly attractive personages within the artistic domain with their protester attitude and novelties they brought to America’s cultural mainstream. At this point it seems necessary to mention about the approach to the “new” of the “New World” . E. H. Gombrich remarks that “Obviously these men[Americans] felt less bound to the hallowed customs of the Old World and were readier to try new experiments”[27] which leads us to seize the reasons why Dadaism revived in these territories.

Neo-Dada sustains Dadaist heritage with its perception of art/art practice preserving the protester, creative-desructive behavior. Similarly to intellectual discussions upon the meaning/content of Dada, the question if it could/should be called “art” continues with appearence of Neo-Dada as well, this time Pop Art accompanies to it since they are fascinated by usage of readymades, and collages. Edward T. Kelly clears up such debates by explaining that Neo-Dada, Pop, Satiric or Junk is not a work of art qua work of art, but with its approach[28]. On account of this one must not judge the artwork primarily by its unusual visual characteristics but by the hidden/implied/declared meaning or message that it has to convey.

The Dadaist created the framework, as Kelly states, to discussions about the artistic qualities of the art object, moving away from the concept of beauty and sublime. Dada/Neo-Dada generated the basis for contemporary art movements that are continuing to explore alternative realties and forms of engagement that move beyond beauty and sublime are have entered with the turning of the century in the aesthetic practice and analysis of a maimed artwork that rots away under the disgusted eyes of an audience that can only perceive its ugliness as an aesthetic final statement[29]. In these terms the perpetual return of Dada does not seem curious since it deals with the very current problems related to Capitalism[30], class struggles, decayed values of bourgeoisie which have been determining the conditions of socio-political, socio-economical, cultural basis of the masses within a widespread geography for the last two centuries.

Bibliography

Ball, Hugo. Flight Out Of Time. Edited by John Elderfield. Translated by Ann Raimes. London: University Of California Press, 1996.

Foster, Hal. Dada Mime, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (2003), No.105:166-176.

Foster, Hal. Post-Modern Culture, Washington: Pluto Press, 1983.

Hopkins, David. Dada and Surrealism, A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Kelly, Edward T. Neo-Dada:A Critique of Pop Art, (Art Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3, 1964), 192- 201.

Locher, David. Unacknowledged Roots and Blatant Imitation: Postmodernism and the Dada Movement, (Missouri Southern State College: Electronic Journal of Sociology,1999), 1-14.

Molesworth, Helen. From Dada To Neo-Dada And Back Again, (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003), No.105:177-181.

Motherwell, Robert. The Dada Painters and Poets, An Anthology, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press, 1981.

Osterwold, Tilman. Pop Art, L.A: Taschen, 2003.

Pegrum, Mark A. Challenging Modernity, Dada Between Modern and Postmodern, New York: Berghahn Books, 2000.

Richter, Hans. Dada, Art and Anti-art, London:Thames&Hudson, 1962.

Shiner, Larry. The Invention of Art: A Cultural History, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

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