Museum Rietberg Zürich
Gablerstrasse 15
8002 Zürich
Tel. 044 415 31 31
Fax 044 415 31 32
www.rietberg.ch
Kontakt
ursina.wirz@zuerich.ch
Direkt +41 (0)44 415 31 34
Press release
Dada Afrika – Dialogue with the Other
18 March – 17 July 2016
Dada celebrates its centenary this year: time for Dada Afrika! This exhibition will be the first
devoted to the Dadaists’ preoccupation with non-European art and culture. Dada artists hoped
that their approach to foreign cultures would not only break fresh aesthetic ground but also lead
to a renewal of society. The exhibition presents the fascinating dialogue between Dadaist works
and artefacts from Africa, Asia, America and Oceania
This centenary project was inspired by the first-ever Dada exhibition, held in Han Coray’s Zurich gallery in
1917. It’s very title Dada. Cubistes. Art Nègre promised an examination of the relationships between the
transcultural arts. For the first time ever in Switzerland, avant-garde art was shown alongside African
works. Following the “primal catastrophe” of the First World War, art was in need of a radical overhaul.
The Expressionists and Cubists had already become interested in developing a new visual vocabulary
using formal elements of non-European art. But the Dada artists went one step further and saw nonEuropean art as providing a coherent alternative to their own much-despised society. Exploring foreign
cultures was a means to express their social and political protest. The inherent explosive power of Dada
is most obvious in the performative arts, which connect the two sides. The dialogue with foreign cultures
was as much provocation as it was innovation.
Wild Zurich
The programme of the “Soirées nègres” included a “masked dance with motifs from Sudan” as well
as the absurd “Chants nègres”, performed “in black garb with large and small exotic drums”. Hugo
Ball chanted his sound poem Karawane in the guise of a “magic bishop”, until he seemingly fell into
a trance and had to be carried from the stage. Richard Huelsenbeck sought to drum European
music and literature “into the ground” with pseudo-African “umba, umba” chants. Marcel Janco’s
grotesque “negro masks” not only alienated the audience but also “dictated a very particular
impassioned gesture which bordered on madness”. Students of the dance reformer Rudolf von
Laban performed “abstract” and “Cubist” dances, dressed “as negresses in long black kaftans and
face masks”, while Emmy Hennings presented an exotic “Apache dance” and Sophie Taeuber-Arp,
her body “articulated into a hundred joints”, danced to Hugo Ball’s poem Seepferdchen und
Flugfische (Seahorses and Flying Fish). The Dadaist sound poems aimed to deconstruct language
bound by rules and grammar to arrive at linguistic material in its original form. Both the pseudoAfrican drum rhythms of the war years in Zurich and Parisian jazz of the interwar period came
across as wild, untamed noise, played seemingly at random. The Dadaists experimented with their
“Bruitism à l’Africain”.
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Han Coray between Dada and Africa
Dada served as a catalyst not only for the reception of non-European art and culture, but also as a dealer
and collector of sculpture from Africa and Oceania. The exhibition examines how both the Dadaists
themselves and the art dealers and collectors connected with them entered into a dialogue with foreign
cultures in the various artistic genres – from the visual arts to literature, music and dance – and how the
changing contexts led to new ways of understanding art. Han Coray’s African collection, part of which is
now held by Museum Rietberg and will be represented in the exhibition with major works, stemmed from
the Dadaist exploration of African art.
Dialogue with the Other
It is clear from the title Dada Africa – Dialogue with the Other that the exhibition is not seeking simply to
contrast the two kinds of art as a monologue of formal “affinity”, whereby exoticised objects from Africa or
Oceania are consigned to the status of merely providing inspiration for modernism. Instead, Dada Africa
presents Dadaist and non-European works as a dialogue between equals. Both the essays in the
catalogue and the exhibition design emphasise the equal value of art production all over the world. As
with any dialogue, communication was sometimes shaped by presuppositions and misunderstandings,
but even then the Dada movement was notably constructive and respectful in its approach to foreign
cultures.
Exhibition
Around seventy works of art from private and public collections in Switzerland, Germany and France are
presented in the four sections of the exhibition. These are supplemented by archive materials,
photographs, quotations and multi-media stations, giving an overall view of the Gesamtkunstwerk Dada
and of the reception of foreign cultures, before, during and after Dada. It offers remarkable insights into
the many ways in which Dadaists approached non-European art, music and literature.
The introductory section of the exhibition considers attitudes to non-European works of art in the preDada era. Two Dada montages – Prussian Archangel and The Bourgeois Philistine Heartfield Gone Wild
– are still disturbing even today and expose the “primal catastrophe” of the First World War.
“One cannot understand Dada,” wrote Richard Huelsenbeck, “one must experience it.” This encapsulates
the first section of the exhibition, Dada Performance. The spontaneous, lively and wild performances of
pseudo-African sound poems, drumming and masked dances were intended to shock audiences and
hence remove the distance between action and observer. At the same time, the “primitive” component
was also intended to test the performers’ own physical and mental limits.
Dada Gallery, the second section, looks at Han Coray’s gallery and Galerie Dada. It was the willingness
to experiment shown by Coray, a Zurich education reformer, gallerist and subsequently collector,
combined with Dadaist interest in his approach which led to the first Dada exhibition in January and
February 1917, the first to place modernist works alongside African art.
In the third section, Dada Magic, Hannah Höch’s collages epitomise the juxtaposition of foreign and
familiar cultures to form a new visual vocabulary. For the first time ever, the exhibition contrasts Höch’s
bewildering montages with the original objects from Africa, Asia and Oceania, pictures of which she used.
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Dada Controversy is the final section, contrasting the Western aesthetically informed view of African art,
as exemplified by Carl Einstein’s ground-breaking book Negerplastik (Negro Sculpture), with the postcolonial attitude of a trans-national artist, Senam Okudzeto. Her olfactory installation Portes Oranges is
both an ironic reference to Dadaist ready-mades and a symbol of an urban, modern Africa.
Further information about the exhibition is available at www.rietberg.ch/dadaafrika_en
Cooperation
The exhibition and catalogue were produced in cooperation between Museum Rietberg Zürich and the
Berlinische Galerie. The fruitful collaboration between two art museums with such different collections
has enabled a multiple-perspective and transdisciplinary approach. Drawing ethnological, art historical,
historical and literary perspectives into this dialogue will make the juxtapositions between Dada works
and world art both palpable and coherent.
Museum Rietberg is the leading museum for non-European art from Africa, Asia, America and Oceania in
Switzerland. In addition to outstanding pieces from India and Japan, Museum Rietberg owns a
comprehensive and important holding of works by the collector of African artefacts Han Coray.
After Zurich the exhibition will move to Berlin (5 August – 7 November 2016). The Berlinische Galerie is
the state of Berlin’s museum for modern art, photography and architecture. With a remit to collect art
created in the city from 1870 to the present day, its holdings include the impressive collection of works
associated with Dada Berlin.
Exhibition catalogue
Containing eighteen essays and numerous short articles, the exhibition catalogue offers new findings and
insights. It is the first publication to give a scholarly overview of the many different ways non-European
artefacts featured in Dadaism, illustrated with a wealth of visual material.
Edited by Ralf Burmeister, Michaela Oberhofer and Esther Tisa Francini.
240 pages and more than 200 images. Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess. CHF 39
With contributions by twenty international authors: Johannes Beltz, Jody Blake, Peter Bolz, Ralf
Burmeister, Uwe Fleckner, Nanina Guyer, Christian Kaufmann, Walburga Krupp, Axel Langer, Alexis
Malefakis, François Mottas, Michaela Oberhofer, Valentine Plisinier, Kathryn Smith, Hélène Thiérard,
Esther Tisa Francini, Khanh Trinh, Mona De Weerdt, Michael White, Roger Van Wyk.
Curators in Zurich
Dr Michaela Oberhofer, curator for Africa and Oceania, Museum Rietberg Zürich
Esther Tisa Francini, provenance researcher and director of the archive, Museum Rietberg Zürich
Curator in Berlin
Dr Ralf Burmeister, director of the Artists’ Archives, Berlinische Galerie
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Loans
The exhibition will show outstanding works from international museum collections featuring artists such as
Hans Arp, Hugo Ball, George Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Hannah Höch, Richard
Huelsenbeck, Marcel Janco, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Sophie Taeuber and Tristan Tzara as well as
objects not only from Africa, but also from Oceania, Asia and America. The artworks will be supplemented
by Dada texts, historic photographs, posters and audio recordings illustrating the performative and
transcultural character of the Dada movement.
Lenders: Centre Pompidou, Paris; Musée du quai Branly, Paris; Arp Stiftung, Berlin; Berlinische Galerie;
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; Erich-Heckel-Nachlass, Hemmenhofen, Arp Museum
Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen; Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V., Stuttgart; Aargauer Kunsthaus,
Aarau; Kunsthaus Zürich; Museum für Gestaltung/Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zurich; Nordamerika
Native Museum Zurich; Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich and a number of private collectors.
Events
Afro Dada
Artist talk with Senam Okudzeto
Sun 20 March 2016: 12.30pm
The influence of African artefacts on early 20th century European modernist art is generally accepted, but
the suggestion that African artists were involved in early Avantgarde practices seems new. This talk will
question how artists of African descent have used the frameworks of Dada and Surrealism, asking where
and what examples can be found. In her own oeuvre Senam Okudzeto is working with “Afro-Dada”
practices and methodologies.
Senam Okudzeto is a transnational artist and scientist
Vortragssaal, free admission; before the lecture the curators will give a guided tour of the Dada Africa
exhibition at 11am (in German)
“Drum werde was du bist ‘dadaist’”
Sun 10 April 2016: 12.30 pm
Lecture by Ralf Burmeister (in German)
A century after the birth of the Dada movement, the question of what actually constitutes Dada remains
fascinating. With the focus on Berlin, this lecture presents the collages and assemblages with which the
Dadaists combatted the “madness of the age”. What united Dada was not a style, but an attitude that is
still pertinent today: the urge to escape mental complacency.
Dr Ralf Burmeister is co-curator of the Dada Africa exhibition and director of the Artists’ Archives at the
Berlinische Galerie.
Auditorium, free admission; before the lecture the curators will give a guided tour of the Dada Africa
exhibition at 11am.
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VHS lecture on DADA
Dada Africa
Mon 30 May 2016
Dr Michaela Oberhofer, Esther Tisa Francini
Dada was more than outlandish navel-gazing; in fact, its gaze was directed outside Europe. Starting with
Han Coray, Dada gallerist and the most important collector of African art, this evening explores the
dialogue between Dadaist works and objects from Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. The history of the
varied reception of foreign cultures by Dada and in the world it inhabited extends from the “Soirées
Nègres” in Cabaret Voltaire to Dadaist art in South Africa.
Details can be found at www.vhszh.ch
As part of Festspiele Zürich, which is also featuring Dada as its theme in 2016, Museum Rietberg is
organising two concerts in collaboration with Moods jazz club as well as a literary and musical soirée:
Moussa Cissokho – Jan Galega Brönnimann – Omri Hason
Fri 17 June 2016: 7.30pm
Moussa Cissokho Kora: vocals / Jan Galega Brönnimann: bass clarinet, soprano saxophone / Omri
Hason: Oriental percussion, Hang
The music played by Moussa Cissokho, Jan Galega Brönnimann and Omri Hason revives the art of
storytelling while transcending the boundaries between traditional and modern sounds from Africa,
Europe and the Orient. The sparkling clear sound of the kora – an African lute-bridge harp with twentytwo strings – meets the sonorous, smoky tones of the bass clarinet, supported by Omri Hason on an
assortment of percussion instruments. With captivatingly beautiful melodies and rhythmic elegance, this
trio creates authentic and contemporary chamber music.
Sommerpavillon, CHF 35 / 30, booking via Starticket
Kala Jula – Samba Diabaté & Vincent Zanetti
Sat 18 June 2016: 7.30pm
Samba Diabaté: Gitane, jeli n’goni / Vincent Zanetti: Gitane, djembe, zena
Samba Diabaté is a Griot from Mali, and one of the most sought-after guitarists in Bamako. As an
acknowledged specialist in West African musical traditions, Vincent Zanetti plays numerous instruments
and is reputedly one of the best djembe virtuosos in Europe. Samba and Vincent’s instruments create an
unbelievably airy and melodious soundscape where Mandingian tradition, blues, lyrical swing and
improvised Western music meet and enter into dialogue.
Sommerpavillon, CHF 35 / 30, booking via Starticket
Performance by Jelili Atiku
Sun 19 June 2016: 3pm
For BONE 19 / 2016, the Festival of Performance Art scheduled to take place in Bern in autumn, Jelili
Atiku, a Nigerian artist is developing a new work, an in-situ installaction featuring bones and horns. The
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preparatory phase for this will begin in May. On 19 June he will perform at the Sommerpavillon as part of
the programme of events accompanying the exhibition DADA Africa. The performance will serve as a
preview and showcase for BONE 19 focusing on the theme of “neoneoDADAfrica!”. Jelili Atiku (b.1968 in
Lagos, Nigeria) trained as a sculptor and today works as a performance and video artist; he is also a
political activist. Although he travels the world, Lagos remains the centre of his many different activities.
As a performance artist, he remains true to his traditional Nigerian heritage, activating this in a highly
idiosyncratic manner in the service of his main cause: decolonialisation.
Sommerpavillon, free admission
Umba! Umba! A literary and musical soirée
Wed 22 June 2016: 7.30pm Al Imfeld and Raoul Schrott, authors / Issa Kouyaté, Kora / Fabienne Hadorn, speaker
Sound poetry was one of the most lively expressions of the Dadaist dialogue with foreign cultures. The
recitation of “Poémes nègres” by Tristan Tzara and sound poems by Hans Arp, Hugo Ball, Richard
Huelsenbeck and Raoul Hausmann brings the Dadaist renewal of literary expression to life. This is
followed by readings from the anthology Afrika im Gedicht, which plunges us into the history and culture
of Africa. Accompanied by a kora player, the soirée illustrates the close relationship between sound
poetry, spoken rhythms and music. Sommerpavillon, CHF 25 / 20, booking via Starticket
Tours
Tours free of charge (entrance ticket required) in German Wed 6pm + Sat 2pm
Private tours (German, English and French)
Information and online booking at www.rietberg.ch/fuehrungen.
Art Education
For workshops (in German) for public audiences and schools, visit www.rietberg.ch/kunstvermittlung.
Information and Contact
Information, texts and images can be downloaded at www.rietberg.ch/medien
Museum Rietberg Zürich
Gablerstrasse 15
CH-8002 Zürich
Tel. +41 44 415 31 31 | Fax +41 44 415 31 32
www.rietberg.ch, museum.rietberg@zuerich.ch
Opening hours Tue–Sun 10am – 5pm | Wed 10am – 8pm
Admission
Exhibition: adults CHF 18 | reduced CHF 14
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Young people under 16 free of charge
Directions
Tram no. 7 (in the direction of Wollishofen) to the “Museum Rietberg” stop (4 stops from Paradeplatz). No
parking at the museum; disabled parking available.
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