Meaning and Characteristics:
* Anti-rationalism and anti-logic: DADA rejected reason, logic, and traditional artistic conventions.
* Embrace of absurdity and chaos: DADA artists aimed to shock and provoke by creating illogical and nonsensical works.
* Rejection of aesthetic beauty and order: Beauty and order were seen as bourgeois values that DADA sought to dismantle.
* Emphasis on chance and spontaneity: Chance procedures and random elements were often incorporated into DADA works.
* Political and social commentary: DADA was a response to the horrors of World War I and the perceived decadence of Western society.
Key Principles:
* Non-sense: DADA embraced absurdity, rejecting traditional meaning and structure in art.
* Anti-art: DADA challenged the very notion of what constituted art, blurring the lines between art and non-art.
* Provocation: DADA artists sought to shock and challenge societal norms through their work.
* Internationalism: DADA spread across Europe and beyond, with artists collaborating and sharing ideas.
Notable DADA Artists:
* Marcel Duchamp: Known for his "readymades," everyday objects presented as art.
* Hugo Ball: Co-founder of the Cabaret Voltaire, a DADA performance space in Zurich.
* Tristan Tzara: DADA poet and theorist who wrote the "Dada Manifesto."
* Hannah Höch: A pioneer of photomontage and a prominent figure in the Berlin DADA scene.
* Man Ray: American photographer, painter, and filmmaker who embraced DADA's principles.
Legacy:
DADA had a profound impact on subsequent artistic movements, including Surrealism, Pop Art, and Conceptual art. Its rejection of traditional norms and embrace of absurdity continues to influence contemporary art today.