1. DADA : 1916 - 1924 “What is Dada? “an art” “a fire insurance”….
Or is it nothing at all,
in other words everything?”
Museum of Modern Art : Introduction to DADA
Please listen carefully to the words chosen by the narrator of this introduction.
Write them down!
1. Click on link to listen to the introduction embedded within slide.
Social and political context:
-modernity
-profound social and psychological crisis
-international scope
-reacted to horrors of WW I
-irony, humor, and moral outrage
-ethical response to historical circumstances
-fundamentally reacting to devastation of WW 1
-profound changes in society/seismic changes
-moral outrage
Quote on slide from: Book Dadaism, p. 6.
MOMOA Interactive Media Link:
MOMA: Introductory Info. about DADA:

2. Big Ideas – Social & Political context
The movement of Dadaism was in its prime from the period of 1916 to 1920.
Dadaism was about anti art in the sense of rebelling against the former traditional ideals of art.
The Dada artists, musicians, poets and performers … had become cynical of humanity after witnessing (WW1) … and had become disillusioned by art.
Ask: What do you already know from movies, or from your history classes – about this time period in Europe?
-Weimar Germany – 1918 – 1933
“The movements appearance and disappearance were above all a reaction to the political situation of the time, to a Europe of hostile nations states, which in 1916 were in the middle of waging a frightful war on each other, and after 1918 created a new political and social order.”
Above information from my book “Dadaism”, p. 6.
Text on slide from:

3. Big Ideas – Social & Political context
The ideal of Dadaism was to fight art with art.
A great example is Marcel Duchamp's
'L.H.O.O.Q' which mocks
the Mona Lisa by
installing a mustache on her face.
The idea of Dada was to offend
and shock the art world.
Info on slide from:

4. Marcel Duchamp
Fountain
“Readymade”
Duchamp's most scandalous readymade was the porcelain urinal that he turned on its back, titled Fountain, signed R. Mutt (a pun on the German word Armut, or poverty).
1. READYMADE: Readymades are everyday manufactured goods that are deemed to be art merely by virtue of the artist's selection of them as such. They were invented by Marcel Duchamp who wanted to test the limits of what qualifies as a work of art. Although he had collected manufactured objects in his studio in Paris, it was not until he came to New York in 1915 that he identified these objects as a category of art, giving the English name "readymade" to any object purchased "as a sculpture already made.“
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5. Hannah Hoch A portrait of the artist: Beautiful Girl: 1920
2. PHOTOMONTAGE technique: reproductions culled from the press, appropriation of the mass media, scathing critiques, the disjunctive cuts of photomontage effectively captured the fissures and shocks of modernity, calling themselves monteurs (mechanics) rather than artists, radical assault on traditional art.
Above from:
2. One interpretation:
"The Beautiful Girl" clad in a modern bathing suit, with a light bulb for her head, seated on a steel girder, surrounded by various images of industrialization. For example, BMW insignias, tires, gears and cogs and watches. In the right hand corner a black boxer appears stepping through the tire representing automation. In the back ground a silhouette of a woman's head with cats eyes stares at the audience. Being modern meant speed, consumerism, urbanization and technology, these changes promoted hope for the women. Yet amongst the hope came fear as seen in the watchful cat eyed woman who lurks behind the scenes staring out at the audience. In this juxtaposition of images Hoch reflects upon a certain optimism for technology and its relationship to the modern woman.”
From:
2. Hannah Hoch Handout .. ?

6. Kurt Schwitters & Raoul Hausmann
3. COLLAGE Technique: - Like the Cubists, the Dadaists pasted papers, fabric and other two-dimensional materials to their works, breaking down the barrier between art and everyday life. Dadaists abandoned the pretense of still life or other identifiable subject matter in favor of abstract collages … included such items as transportation tickets, calendars, candy wrappers, lace, printed pamphlets, maps, and other disposable ephemera collected in the course of the artist's daily outings. Collaged together, they formed a chaotic visual diary of modern life.”
From:
Left Image: Kurt Schwitters (1887–1948),Untitled, 1928 , Collage. (7 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches) (184 x 171 mm).
From:
-Schwitters composed Dada music too! You can download and hear some of these bizarre sounds at:
Right Image: Raoul Hausmann’s Self-portrait of the Dadasopher, collage- photomontage, 1920.
From: Get more info about this piece!

7. Photo of SophieTaeuber- Arp, 1918.
4. ASSEMBLAGE: refers to a three-dimensional work of art comprising found elements. These works can be sculptural objects that are seen in the round, as well as pictures that are hung on walls…. assemblages were built from everyday objects that were nailed, screwed, or otherwise fastened together. The range of objects was virtually endless; sometimes evocative of war (military medals, revolvers), the assembled objects often were mundane bits of trash trash (flotsam and jetsam, porcelain shards, furniture knobs, wire mesh).
From:
Left: Sophie Taeuber with her puppets, Zurich, 1918.
Image from:
For more info about this artist see:
1.National Museum of Women in the Arts- Brief Bio
2. Museum of Modern Art Collection:
CHECK OUT what the Museum of Modern Art has to

8. "To create is divine, to reproduce is human."
Man Ray
"To create is divine, to reproduce is human."
5. PHOTOGRAPHY: “As a form of mechanical reproduction, photography was maligned as being more technological than creative. Dadaists, in contrast, embraced photography, relishing its modern means of creation. Their experiments with the medium include use of double exposures, radical perspective, and unconventional subjects. Dadaists also experimented with photograms—camera-less photographic prints that record the placement of objects on photosensitive paper that has been exposed to light; these are among some of the earliest abstract photographs.”
From:
“In 1915, Man Ray had his first solo show of paintings and drawings. His first proto-Dada object, an assemblage titled Self-Portrait, was exhibited the following year. He produced his first significant photographs in 1918…Abandoning conventional painting, Man Ray involved himself with Dada … started making objects, and developed unique mechanical and photographic methods of making images.
For the 1918 version of Rope Dancer he combined a spray-gun technique with a pen drawing. Again, like Duchamp, he made "readymades"—objects selected by the artist, sometimes modified and presented as art. His Gift readymade (1921) is a flatiron with metal tacks attached to the bottom …
In 1920 Ray helped Duchamp make his first machine and one of the earliest examples of kinetic art, the Rotary Glass Plates composed of glass plates turned by a motor. That same year Man Ray, Katherine Dreier and Duchamp founded the Société Anonyme, an itinerant collection which in effect was the first museum of modern art in the U.S.
Ray teamed up with Duchamp to publish the one issue of New York Dada in Man Ray expressed that "dada’s experimentation was no match for the wild and chaotic streets of New York, and he wrote “Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.”[8] Man Ray moved to Paris in 1921.
From:
Quote in orange box from:"Originals Graphic Multiples", circa 1968; published in Objets de Mon Affection, 1983.

9. Resources & Homework: Museum of Modern Art - New York DADA Exhibit :
Internet
Check out these websites!!!
Museum of Modern Art - New York DADA Exhibit :
Cut and Paste: A History of Photomontage
National Gallery of ART: DADA
#null
-Click on the third link on this slide –
show the students how to navigate this site and handout the first homework assignment.
-DADA terms homework HANDOUT!

10. Thinking Ahead … Start collecting random items.. Collect Stuff
Image by: Raoul Housman 1946.
Please start collecting & saving random items to be used for building … stay tuned for more info soon.

11. DADA Artists: Choose one To research
1. Google image search.
2. Put examples in sketchbook.
Tristan Tzara
Raoul Hausmann
Man Ray
John Heartfield
Marcel Janco
Kurt Schwitters
Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Hans Arp
Marcel Duchamp
Francis Picabia
Hugo Ball
Max Ernst
Hannah Hoch
Look through the work of at least 4 of the artists on this list before deciding what to do your research about.
In fact look a few times and choose one that you are compelled to learn and know more about.
If during your image browsing and internet surfing – you find a DADA artist not listed here that you would like to do your project about – talk to me or me about the artist.

12. Angela Annaconda: Ketchup
What aspects of Dada so you see?
There are many short clips from Angela Annaconda on You Tube – if you want to see more!!
Contemporary Collaged Animation:
Angela Annaconda: Ketchup M

13. Terms, Artists, Main ideas?
Summarize & review
Terms, Artists, Main ideas?
Activity
As a class we will discuss what the students remember from this presentation, or what they already knew.
Collection of objects
Variety of text sources – words & images
Digital camera
One picture frame?
Sample of assemblage?

14. Resources http://www. moma
Lesson Plan Reference:
Books:
Left- Mechanical Head (The Spirit of Our Times) Assemblage by Raoul Haussman, 1920.
Right - Image from the cover of my book.