Dada came into existence in Zurich, Switzerland in
1916. (With a nod to the earlier anti-art movement in New York.) A small number
of like-minded young people with artistic temperaments found each other in the safe
haven of Zurich and it became the Cabaret Voltaire. They came from numerous
countries and they were running away from, and reacting to, the horrors of
World War I. You can look around for the details; it’s all very interesting.
They were anti-war and anti-bourgeois. They reacted to
the insanity of the world with art that was wild, simple, often nonsensical and
generally non-reflective. They were, among many others: Hugo Ball; Emmy
Hemmings; Hans Arp; Francis Picabia; and Max Ernst. They were writers, poets
and artists.
Here’s an example of a “Dada sentence,” by Max Ernst:
“Thanks to an ancient, closely guarded monastic secret,
even the aged can learn to play the piano with no trouble at all.”
Because everything sounds better in German, here is the
sentence in the original:
“Nach uraltem, aengstlich behuetetem Klostergeheimnis
lernen selbst Greise Muehelos Klavier spielen.” (I can’t get the umlauts
together, sorry.)
How perfect is it that in this jubilee year we have
elected Donald Trump president! That was a piece of elegant nonsense right
there.
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