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| Dada Manifesto | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dada Manifesto |
| Caption | Hugo Ball performing at the Cabaret Voltaire, 1916 |
| Genre | Art manifesto |
| Language | German, French |
| Country | Switzerland, Germany, France |
| Published | 1916–1924 |
| Notable authors | Hugo Ball; Tristan Tzara; Richard Huelsenbeck; Marcel Duchamp; Hans Arp |
Dada Manifesto
The Dada Manifesto refers collectively to a set of manifestos and programmatic texts issued between 1916 and 1924 that sought to articulate the aims of the Dada movement as it emerged in Zürich, Berlin, Paris, and New York City. These texts were written by leading figures associated with venues and groups such as the Cabaret Voltaire, the Club Dada, the Société Anonyme, and the Berlin Dada circle, and were published in periodicals and chapbooks connected to Der Sturm, Dada Almanach, and 391. The manifestos positioned themselves against the values associated with the Belle Époque, the Second Reich, and the cultural institutions of World War I Europe.
The roots of the manifestos lie in the upheavals of World War I, responses to the Paris Peace Conference, and the cross-pollination among émigré artists and writers in Zürich at venues like the Cabaret Voltaire and among networks linking Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Hans Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, and later figures who moved between Zurich, Berlin, Paris, and New York City. Influences and antagonists named or implied in the manifestos include the aesthetic formations associated with Impressionism, Symbolism, Futurism, Cubism, and the institutions of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the Royal Academy. The manifestos responded to wartime politics including the policies of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the collapse of Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the cultural fallout in cities such as Cologne, Munich, Vienna, and Milan.
Principal texts include the early prose and performances by Hugo Ball at the Cabaret Voltaire, Tristan Tzara’s multilingual proclamations published in Paris and Zurich, Richard Huelsenbeck’s Berlin statements in German journals, and later public addresses and pamphlets by Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Georges Hugnet, and Hans Richter. Major publications and editors associated with these writings include Dada: Zeitschrift, 391 (published by Francis Picabia and Maurice Raynal connections), Der Dada, and the Dada Almanach edited by R. T. F. C.. The manifestos were sometimes collective productions involving signatories such as Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Jean Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Walter Serner, and Siegfried Kracauer.
The manifestos articulated themes including an explicit anti-bourgeois stance that named targets such as the institutions linked to Paris Salon, the conservative press exemplified by papers like Le Figaro, and the professionalizing academies like the Royal Academy of Arts. They invoked radical negation and chance operations indebted to experiments by Alfred Jarry and polemics by F. T. Marinetti and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti while insisting on spontaneity akin to performances at the Cabaret Voltaire and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées climate. They emphasized collaged identity, anti-rational rhetoric, and an embrace of the readymade strategies connected to Marcel Duchamp and the proto-surrealist circle around André Breton and Paul Éluard. Political dimensions referenced contemporaries such as Lenin and debates around the Russian Revolution as well as cultural reactions to the Treaty of Versailles.
The manifestos promoted montage and collage practices visible in the works of Hannah Höch, Max Ernst, and Raoul Hausmann, the photomontage techniques circulating in Berlin, and the object-based readymades practiced by Marcel Duchamp in New York City and Paris. They endorsed sound poetry and simultaneous performance methods pioneered by Hugo Ball and Kurt Schwitters, automatic writing experiments later associated with André Breton and Surrealism, and graphic provocations found in periodicals like Der Sturm and 391. They recommended performances in spaces such as Cabaret Voltaire, galleries like the Galerie Dada, and private salons frequented by collectors and critics like Peggy Guggenheim and Alfred Stieglitz where collage, assemblage, and chance procedures were demonstrated.
Contemporaneous reception ranged from enthusiastic endorsement by avant-garde networks including figures tied to Surrealist Manifesto conversations and the Futurist and Expressionist milieus, to vitriolic criticism in conservative dailies such as The Times and regional newspapers in Berlin and Paris. Exhibitions and publications diffused Dada principles to institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou precursors, and private collections of patrons including Charles, Prince of Wales-era collectors and transatlantic dealers like Alfred Stieglitz and Walter Arensberg. The manifestos influenced later manifestos including those of Surrealism, Fluxus, Situationist International, and postwar movements linked to Neo-Dada artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
The texts contributed to developments in poetry, performance, visual arts, and publishing that shaped the trajectories of Surrealism, Constructivism, Bauhaus adjacent experiments, and the mid-20th-century New York School and European postwar avant-garde. Their techniques informed pedagogy at institutions like the Bauhaus and affected curatorial practice at museums such as the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art. Writers and artists influenced by the manifestos include Samuel Beckett, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Yves Klein, Allan Kaprow, and Joseph Beuys, while critical debates continued in journals like October (journal), Artforum, and The Burlington Magazine.
Category:Art manifestos Category:Dada