Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Dadaism

During our last class I heard a term. A term I had heard before, but ever had the opportunity to explore its meaning. That term is Dadaism. So here is the breakdown of what I found out.
I discovered is that it is not something so easily defined but rather an entire cultural movement in reaction to world war I. Its origins are a little mixed up as well. While some believe it is a nonsensical word others believe it comes from the Russian da, da meaning yes, yes. Still others assert that it comes from a random selection in a French dictionary, where the word dada means hobby.
I learned that this artistic movement mostly affected the visual arts but did (a little later) have an impact on music and poetry. These arts were anti-war and included demonstrations and gatherings. One interesting idea I came across was that the art was “anti-art” or art that makes fun of serious art.
In music specifically, not much is said about Dadaism until it begins to fade. Although I did find a brief entry in Wikipedia, which mentions Kurt Schwitters, Erwin Schulhoff, Hans Heusser and Albert Savinio. It also stated that some members of les six attended Dada gatherings.
Around the beginning of WW2, the French Dadaists were fading and serialism was taking hold. Hitler persecuted those who participated in what he called degenerate art. As a result most European Dadaist moved to the US to avoid persecution.

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