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Cassandra M. Porter: Second-year student at Pratt Institute's School of Information and Library Science, New York, NY
Introduction"
"To make a Dadaist Poem"
by Tristan Tzara.
To make a dadaist poem
Take a newspaper
Take a pair of scissors
Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem
Cut out the article
Then cut each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag
Shake gently
Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag
Copy conscientiously
The poem will be like you
And here you are a writer, infinitely original
And endowed with a sensibility that is charming
Though beyond the understanding of the vulgar"
(from The Dada Painters and Poets:
A Critical Anthology)
The Dada movement is historically placed between the middle to the end of World War I and the beginning of the Surrealist movement, specifically between the years of 1915 and 1923. Its founders were influenced by both the effects World War I had on society and by their developing views regarding the make up of society and social classes. Their goal, if it can be called that, since Dadaism is the breaking down of groups and distinctions, was to break down the "barriers between classes" using their art as the tool. Their method included provoking the bourgeois and the public through the use of plays and performance art, art shows, music and essays published in newly-created newspapers developed for that purpose. The Dadaists believed that an active reaction, even if negative, was better than a passive one.
The "founders" were expatriates primarily from Europe who had escaped to Zurich for political freedom. Dadaism then spread to Paris, Berlin and Hanover, when the ex-patriates returned to their homelands at the end of the war.
The American Dadaist movement is centered in New York City. When Europeans, such as Marcel Duchamp, came to America, they brought their Dadaist ideals with them. There was also an art movement which included artists such as Man Ray. These artists were on the verge of developing new art forms already and the Europeans served as their catalyst.
Ironically, unlike its European counterpart, the American movement focused on Art...