The revolutionary Dada movement, though short-lived, produced a vast amount of creative work in both art and literature during the years that followed World War I. Rejecting all social and artistic conventions, Dadaists went to the extremes of provocative behavior, creating anti-art pieces that ridiculed and questioned the very nature of creative endeavor. To understand their movements heady mix of anarchy and nihilismcombined with a lethal dash of humorits essential to engage with the artists most important writings and manifestos. And that is is precisely where this reader comes in.
Bringing together key Dada texts, many of them translated into English for the first time, this volume immerses readers in some of the most famous (and infamous) periodicals of the time, from Hugo Balls Cabaret Voltaire and Francis Picabias 391 to Marcel Duchamps The Blind Man and Kurt Schwitterss Merz. Published in Europe and the United States between 1916 and 1932, these journals constituted the movements lifeblood, communicating the desires and aspirations of the artists involved. In addition to providing the first representative selection of these texts, The Dada Reader also includes excerpts from many lesser-known American and Eastern European journals.
Compiled with both students and general readers in mind, this volume is necessary reading for anyone interested in one of the most dynamic and influential movements of the twentieth century.
Bringing together key Dada texts, many of them translated into English for the first time, this volume immerses readers in some of the most famous (and infamous) periodicals of the time, from Hugo Balls Cabaret Voltaire and Francis Picabias 391 to Marcel Duchamps The Blind Man and Kurt Schwitterss Merz. Published in Europe and the United States between 1916 and 1932, these journals constituted the movements lifeblood, communicating the desires and aspirations of the artists involved. In addition to providing the first representative selection of these texts, The Dada Reader also includes excerpts from many lesser-known American and Eastern European journals.
Compiled with both students and general readers in mind, this volume is necessary reading for anyone interested in one of the most dynamic and influential movements of the twentieth century.
