TheWhimsical
Journey into Dadaism
By Shahneela Shaukat
Have you heard of “Dada” before?
Outline
• What is Dada?• How did it begin?• The spread of Dada• Art work examples• Dada & logic?• Influence of Dada
What exactly is Dada?
•An art movement• Involving: visual arts,
literature, poetry, theatre • In response to World War I
The beginnings of the movement
• A cultural movement during World War I• Artists (many from Romania) settled in neutral
Zurich, Switzerland
The beginnings of the movement
• A cultural movement during World War I• Artists (many from Romania) settled in neutral
Zurich, Switzerland • They started discussing ways to counter the
war• They termed Dada – a movement to break
away from old culture
The beginnings of the movement
The spread of Dada
Zurich
Berlin
New York
Paris
• Sculptures
Dada Artwork
• Sculptures • Collages
Dada Artwork
• Sculptures • Collages• Assemblages
Dada Artwork
• Sculptures • Collages• Assemblages• Avant-grade filmmaking
Dada Artwork
PLAY
• Dada is an anti-logic movement• Dadaists viewed old world logic as flawed and
unfair• They wanted to create a cultural revolution to
break away from this form of logic
How is it all related to logic?
• However, there are some similarities to how we view logical thinking:
Logic is using abstraction to analyse problems Dada used art as an abstraction to analyse what is
wrong with society Art via paradoxes Used DREAM logic
How is it all related to logic?
• Also:• Dada was in response to cultural crisis, because old
world culture had caused the war• Logicians were in crisis after Russell’s Paradox . Old
logic of Cantor, Hilbert, etc. Did not seem to work• So just as Dada attempted to destroy old culture...• New logic (Gödel, Turing, etc) destroyed old thinking
and brought new fields of study with it:• COMPUTER SCIENCE!
How is it all related to logic?
• The grandfather of Surrealism • Developed the idea of ready-made sculptors
ready-made art (see: the Turner Prize)• Made way for more radical postmodernist art
movements (abstract expressionism, Pop art)
The influence of Dada
Thank you