Dadaism Art Movement during the First World War

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Dadaism Art Movement
Introduction
Following the First World War, the world experienced immense changes, particularly in many social abstracts. However, even before the start of this war, Europe was on a steep decline in upholding reality. Radical ideas were gaining much more attention and afoot. Gradually, factors resulting in the establishment of Dadaism were ensuing. Dadaism or Dada was the first major anti-art movement whose ideology was predicated on revolting against the culture and values that purportedly, cause and supposed the rise of the war. Over a short period, its prominence transformed Dadaism into a highly avant-garde art of the anarchistic type (Behair 28). Avant-garde describes a style, group, or artist who is regarded to be significantly ahead of the lot based upon their application, subject matter, or procedure. The primary intentions of the new-found status were bent on subverting and undermining the value system of the elite and more so, those ruling. They perceived these individuals as inextricable to the discredited socio-political status-quo. Dadaism rose into much prominence in 1916 and more specifically in the North American and European zones relying on the energetic young individuals (in their early twenties) who had avoided conscription and settling in neutral cities such as Barcelona, Zurich, and New York.
The war was getting out of hand in most parts of Europe. Consequently, several young men who acknowledged the atrocities of the war began moving into better places in Europe and North America. These included Hans Arp from France, Marcel Janco and Tristan Tzara from Rumania, and Richard Huelsenbeck and Hugo Ball from Germany. Each one of them was skilled in their craft. In this line of thought, many other intellectuals, artists, and writers escaped to Switzerland as they avoided joining the army and going to war. Zurich was considered the converging point for these people. This place is where they would seek refuge and settle. In 1916 around February 5th, Hugo Ball, who was a writer, and his wife, Emmy Hemmings, opened a joint referred to as Cabaret Voltaire (Dada Movement). In essence, this was a little bar where these owners had established a miniature variety show and people mentioned above would participate actively. According to a personal memoir from Huelsenbeck, Ball, Janco, Tzara, Arp, and he founded Dada at the Cabaret Voltaire in the spring of 1916. He continues to assert that he and Hugo Ball, a painter-musician, presented the name sources from a dictionary translating German to the French language. There is a supposed belief that this move was a deliberate one with the word meaning There-There in German, Yes-Yes in Russian, and hobbyhorse in French (Trachtman). The name from the French meaning conveyed a sense of brevity and suggestiveness. Cabaret Voltaire offered them an ideal place where they could practice their multi-cultural Dadaism events.
Dadaism was a response to the modern era in which case, they were revolting, although indirectly, to the rise of war, capitalist culture, and more importantly, the degradation of art. In the case of war, they acknowledged that it had been borne from specific individuals’ autocratic, sordid and materialistic reasons. While art was also changing its authentic shape, it was provided a more lenient approach of addressing some of the shortcomings in society. It is through art that social and political evils could be reflected in society. in particular, art acted as a mirror The German writer, Hugo Ball, claimed that the human form image is slowly vanishing from the modern paintings and every objects seems to be only in fragments. The writer suggests that the next step would be for poetry to come up with a decision of doing away with the language altogether (Heffernan, 2017). An “anti-art” was prescribed as the best way to address the challenging times. Their art was characterized by humor and clever turns, but on the other hand and in the deep-rooted sense of its foundation, Dadaism was questioning the role of art in contemporary times.
The Spread of Dadaism
Zurich was the center of the movement justifying the establishment of Dada magazine that focused on spreading the anti-art and -war message. The start of 1917 saw Hugo leaving for Bern where he intended to study journalism. His exit created room for Tzara to assume leadership of the movement. In his new-found capacity, Tzara initiated an unrelenting campaign in advancing the popularity of Dadaism. Writers in France and Italy were recipients of several letters from Tzara expanding the movement’s popularity in various European regions (Huelsenbeck 26). In July 1917, the group was publishing an art and literature review entitled Dada, which had five editions from Zurich and taking into account their expanding influence Paris, they had two final ones there. The group primary focus when delivering their art was vindicated on performance and printed matter.
The end of the war in 1918 did not deter the possible progression of the movement. In contrast, it helped further the agenda of the movement to other parts of the world. These artists who had converged in Zurich returned to their home countries creating the best possible avenues through which the Dadaism movement could transcend boundaries. The Dadaism movement in Zurich came into a halt when the ultimate organized event in Zurich was marred with the riot. However, Tzara perceived this as an event that furthered their interests due to the audience collaboration in art production. The event in itself attracted approximately 1,000 people. The organizers set the pace of the event with a conservative speech placing significant emphasis on the importance of abstract art, which was an assured strategy to establish provoke the crowd’s anger. Their rage was advanced further by the discordant music accompanied by readings inciting the crowd into participation. Eventually, people gathered became disruptive and began massive damage to the props. In his words towards this hostility. To Tzara, success was based upon audience involvement as the riot caused the peop...