Dada
…
Was it a movement?
Was is considered art?
Dada


Dada was, officially, not a movement, its
artists not artists and its art not art. That sounds
easy enough, doesn't it? Of course, there is a
bit more to the story of Dadaism than this
simplistic explanation.
Dada was a literary and artistic movement
born in Europe at a time when the horror of
World War I was being played out in what
amounted to citizens' front yards. Due to the
war, a number of artists, writers and
intellectuals - notably of French and German
nationality - found themselves congregating
in the refuge that Zurich (in neutral
Switzerland) offered.
Dada
 Far
from merely feeling relief at their
respective escapes, this bunch was
pretty ticked off that modern
European society would allow the
war to have happened. They were
so angry, in fact, that they
undertook the time-honored artistic
tradition of protesting.
Dada

Banding together in a loosely-knit group,
these writers and artists used any public forum
they could find to (metaphorically) spit on
nationalism, rationalism, materialism and any
other -ism which they felt had contributed to
a senseless war. In other words, the Dadaists
were fed up. If society is going in this
direction, they said, we'll have no part of it or
its traditions. Including...no, wait!...especially
artistic traditions. We, who are non-artists, will
create non-art - since art (and everything else
in the world) has no meaning, anyway.
Dada
 About
the only thing these nonartists all had in common were their
ideals. They even had a hard time
agreeing on a name for their
project. "Dada" - which some say
means "hobby horse" in French and
others feel is just baby talk - was the
catch-phrase that made the least
amount of sense, so "Dada" it was.
Dada

Using an early form of Shock Art, the Dadaists
thrust mild obscenities, scatological humor,
visual puns and everyday objects (renamed
as "art") into the public eye. Marcel Duchamp
performed the most notable outrages by
painting a mustache on a copy of the Mona
Lisa (and scribbling an obscenity beneath)
and proudly displaying his sculpture entitled
Fountain (which was actually a urinal, sans
plumbing, to which he added a fake
signature).
Dada
 The
public, of course, was revulsed which the Dadaists found wildly
encouraging. Enthusiasm being
contagious, the (non)movement
spread from Zurich to other parts of
Europe and New York City. And just
as mainstream artists were giving it
serious consideration, in the early
1920s, Dada (true to form) dissolved
itself.
Dada
 In
an interesting twist, this art of
protest - based on a serious
underlying principle - is delightful.
The nonsense factor rings true.
Dada art is whimsical, colorful,
wittily sarcastic and, at times,
downright silly.
What are the key
characteristics of Dada art?
 Dada
began in Zurich and became an
international movement. Or nonmovement, as it were.
 Dada had only one rule: Never follow any
known rules.
 Dada was intended to provoke an
emotional reaction from the viewer
(typically shock or outrage). If its art failed
to offend traditionalists, Dada writing particularly Tristan Tzara's manifestoes proved a fine, nose-thumbing Plan B.
What are the key
characteristics of Dada art?
 Dada
art is nonsensical to the point of
whimsy. Almost all of the people who
created it were ferociously serious,
though.
 Abstraction and Expressionism were the
main influences on Dada, followed by
Cubism and, to a lesser extent, Futurism.
What are the key
characteristics of Dada art?
 There
was no predominant medium in
Dadaist art. All things from geometric
tapestries to glass to plaster and wooden
reliefs were fair game. It's worth noting,
though, that assemblage, collage,
photomontage and the use of ready
made objects all gained wide
acceptance due to their use in Dada art.
What are the key
characteristics of Dada art?
 For
something that supposedly meant
nothing, Dada certainly created a lot of
offshoots. In addition to spawning
numerous literary journals, Dada
influenced many concurrent trends in the
visual arts (especially in the case of
Constructivism). The best-known
movement Dada was directly responsible
for is Surrealism.
 Dada self-destructed when it was in
danger of becoming "acceptable".
Marcel Duchamp
A
man of great humor and wit, Duchamp
loved nothing more than jokes, puns and
challenging others to think beyond
conventional wisdom. He is best known for
introducing the ready-made (or "found")
object into visual art, co-founding Dada
and being affiliated with the Surrealists.
Perhaps his greatest contribution, though,
is that he almost singlehandedly shifted
the focus of art away from the strictly
visual and onto the mental. Duchamp's
enormous impact on Contemporary Art
cannot be overstated.
Marcel Duchamp
(1887-1968)
Duchamp
Bicycle Wheel 1951
third version after lost original 1913
Bicycle Wheel is a
readymade by Marcel
Duchamp consisting
of a bicycle fork with
front wheel mounted
upside-down on a
wooden stool.
Bicycle Wheel
 In
1913 at his Paris studio he mounted the
bicycle wheel upside down onto a stool,
spinning it occasionally just to watch it.
Later he denied that its creation was
purposeful, though it has come to be
known as the first of his readymades. "I
enjoyed looking at it," he said. "Just as I
enjoy looking at the flames dancing in the
fireplace." It was not until he began
making readymades a few years later in
New York that he decided Bicycle Wheel
was a readymade.
Bicycle Wheel
 The
original from 1913 was lost, and
Duchamp recreated the sculpture in
1951.
 Bicycle Wheel is said to be the first kinetic
sculpture.
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 The
readymades of Marcel Duchamp are
ordinary manufactured objects that he
selected and modified, as an antidote to
what he called "retinal art". By simply
choosing the object (or objects) and
repositioning or joining, and tilting and
signing it, the object became art. It was
the least amount of interaction between
artist and art, and the most extreme form
of minimalism that had yet been seen at
the time.
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 Duchamp
was unable to define or
explain his opinion of readymades:
"The curious thing about the
readymade is that I've never been
able to arrive at a definition or
explanation that fully satisfies me."
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 Duchamp
was not interested in what he
called "retinal art" — art that was only
visual — and sought other methods of
expression. As an antidote to "retinal art"
he began creating readymades at a time
(1915) when the term was commonly
used in the United States to describe
manufactured items to distinguish them
from handmade goods.
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 He
selected the pieces on the basis
of "visual indifference", and the
selections reflect his sense of irony,
humor and ambiguity.
 "...it was always the idea that came
first, not the visual example," he
said; "...a form of denying the
possibility of defining art."
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 The
only definition of "readymade"
published under the name of Marcel
Duchamp ("MD" to be precise) says in
André Breton and Paul Éluard's
Dictionnaire abrégé du Surréalisme: "an
ordinary object elevated to the dignity of
a work of art by the mere choice of an
artist." However, asserts that Breton wrote
the definition for the Surrealist dictionary.
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 Duchamp
limited his yearly output of
readymades and made no more than 20
in his lifetime. He felt that only by limiting
output, could he avoid the trap of his own
taste. Though he was aware of the
contradiction of avoiding taste, yet also
selecting an object. Taste, "good" or
"bad", he felt was the "enemy of art."
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 Through
the years his own concept of
the readymades kept changing. "My
intention was to get away from myself,
though I knew perfectly well that I was
using myself. Call it a little game
between 'I' and 'me'."
 Much later in life Duchamp said, "I'm
not at all sure that the concept of the
readymade isn't the most important
single idea to come out of my work."
The Readymades of
Marcel Duchamp
 By
submitting some of them as art to
art juries, the public, and his patrons,
he challenged conventional notions of
what is, and what is not, art. Some
were rejected by art juries and others
went unnoticed at art shows.
 Most of his early readymades have
been lost or discarded, but years later
he commissioned reproductions of
many of them.
Fountain 1917 Duchamp
Photographed by Alfred Steiglitz
Fountain
 Duchamp’s
most notorious readymade
was a manufactured urinal entitled
Fountain. Conceived for a show
promoting avant-garde art, Fountain took
advantage of the show’s lack of juried
panels, which invariably excluded
forward-looking artists.
Fountain
 Under
a pseudonym, “R. Mutt,” Duchamp
submitted Fountain. It was a prank, meant
to taunt his avant-garde peers. For some
of the show’s organizers this was too
much — was the artist equating modern
art with a toilet fixture? — and Fountain
was “misplaced” for the duration of the
exhibition. It disappeared soon thereafter.
Fountain 1917
 As
surely as it was a prank, Fountain was
also, like the other readymades, a
calculated attack on the most basic
conventions of art. To the charge that
Fountain was mere plagiarism, “a plain
piece of plumbing,” he replied “Whether
Mr. Mutt with his own hands made the
fountain or not has no importance. He
CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of
life, placed it so that its useful significance
disappeared under the new title and
point of view — created a new thought
for that object.”
At
the time, almost nobody
understood what Duchamp
was talking about. But fifty
years later everyday
objects would be
commonplace in art.
Marcel Duchamp, Mile of String
1942, New York
Mile of String
 “Duchamp
bought 16 miles of string, of
which only one mile was used, to prepare
an entanglement in which the visitor
experienced difficulties in finding his way
to the paintings, a metaphor for the
difficulties which the layman often
encounters in the attempt to understand
modern painting"
'Marcel Duchamp Cast Alive'
1967
Duchamp
often stated
that “art
should be
more like
chess, which
is "completely
in one's gray
matter”
L.H.O.O.Q. or La Joconde1964
(replica of 1919 original)
 Primary
responses to L.H.O.O.Q.
interpreted its meaning as being an
attack on the iconic Mona Lisa and
traditional art, thus promoting the Dadaist
ideals. Perhaps Duchamp decided to use
his ready-mades to not only critique
established art conventions, but to also
force the audience to put aside what
they had thought before and look at
something with a completely different
perspective. By making the gender of the
Mona Lisa ambiguous, Duchamp claimed
to present his audience with a new
perspective at a classic work of art.
Is it ART?
Is it ART?
 Each
student needs to develop 10 points
for and against this statement.
 You will be put into to groups—each
group will be required to write one
affirmative argument and one negative
argument—these arguments need to be
thorough!!!