Dada

Dada, or Dadaism, was a cultural movement that involved visual arts, literature (mainly poetry), theatre, and graphic design, and began in neutral Zürich, Switzerland during World War I.

Legacy

While broad reaching, the movement was unstable. By 1924, Dada was melding into surrealism, and artists had gone on to other ideas and movements, including socialist realism and other forms of modernism.

Related Topics:
Surrealism - Socialist realism - Modernism

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By the dawn of World War II, many of the European Dadaists had fled or emigrated to the United States. Some died in death camps under Hitler, who disliked the kind of radical art that Dada represented. The movement became less active as post-World War II optimism led to new movements in art and literature.

Related Topics:
World War II - United States - Radical

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In 1967, a large Dada retrospective was held in Paris, France.

Related Topics:
1967 - Paris, France

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At the same time that the Zürich Dadaists made noise and spectacle at the Cabaret Voltaire, Vladimir Lenin wrote his revolutionary plans for Russia in a nearby apartment. He was unappreciative of the artistic revolutionary activity near him. Tom Stoppard used this coincidence as a premise for his play Travesties (1974), which includes Tzara, Lenin, and James Joyce as characters.

Related Topics:
Cabaret Voltaire - Vladimir Lenin - Russia - Tom Stoppard - Travesties - James Joyce

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Cabaret Voltaire fell into disrepair until it was occupied by a group claiming to be neo-Dadaists in June-August of 2002. After their eviction the Cabaret Voltaire became a museum dedicated to the history of Dada.

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