Dada vs. Surrealism

[NerdChild]

not to be nitpicky or anything, but is Dada truly surrealism? i thought
Dada was the earlier movement from which Surrealism evolved, surrealism
being the more visual of the two, and slightly more coherent, as it also
sought to define reality though the subconscious (dreams), but in a less
disjointed way. or not.

i may not know anything, i'm only 15.

love&anarchy,
NerdChild

[Dadanoise]

DADA and Surrealism had similar artistic STYLES and many people were involved
in both movements. DADA was more concerned with a rebellious rejection of art,
common sense, etc., and was not as dogmatic as Surrealism became. The DADAists
were more interested in exploring the meaningless than the "subconscious."
Their manifestoes delight in bizarre wordplay and absurd imagery, along with a
sort of anarchistic/ nihilistic attitude towards organizations, traditions,
etc. It lacked some of of Surrealism's main concerns-- Freudian concept of the
subconscious, Communism. Simply describing it as an "anti-art" movement is
overly simplistic, in my opinion. The Dadaists often had contradicting
viewpoints with each other. In my opinion, DADA was more explosive, less
serious, and more devoted to the popular 20th Century Pastime of OPPOSING
BOREDOM than Surrealism, with its mysticism and willingness to play the
art-business game. I should also mention one of points that every textbook
raises about DADA, that its birth in the 1910's in Europe was a reaction to the
insanity of war. I am 19 and have been sorta obsessed with DADA for a while
now, devouring every book on the topic i have been able to get my hands on, and
often frustrated by its reduction in art history to a two- or three-sentence
movement that was important only in its relation to Surrealism. The DADAists
were innovators, particularly in the areas of WORD and IMAGE, embracing the
goofy chaos of the COLLAGE, at the time a totally fresh medium-- although there
is some uncertainty as to whether any one group or artist can be given credit
for this form (textbooks often cite the Cubists as the inventors of collage,
but the DADAists certainly took it farther than any contemporaries) and a
literary style that created the equivalent of collage in text, which would be
continued by the Surrealists and explored with fascinating and moving results
by William Burroughs in the 60s (particularly his "cut-up trilogy" of THE NOVA
EXPRESS, THE SOFT MACHINE, amd THE TICKET THAT EXPLODED).
Echoes of dada can be found in the explosive 60s-- "happenings," pop art, the
Fluxus movement, various artists who continued the Duchampian medium of
"readymades" (a nice 60s example was Yoko Ono's art show which featured an
apple, unmodified but for a $500 price tag)-- and elsewhere. Greil Marcus's
book "LIPSTICK TRACES" draws connections between Dada and early punk rock,
which other authors have been quick to repeat. Though I dig DADA and I dig
punk, and certainly there are many similarities, i would say that this has
become another oversimplification, popular because of its soundbite nature.
now i'll stop before i ramble any further.

if you wanna talk DADA, collage art, or anything else, please e-mail me.

[scot...@earthlink.net]

On 29 Mar 1998 06:05:16 GMT, dada...@aol.com (Dadanoise) wrote:

>........ I should also mention one of points that every textbook

>raises about DADA, that its birth in the 1910's in Europe was a reaction to the

>insanity of war....................

DADA was born as a good part of a generation of men
were being killed.

... a generation .... killed ....

The phrase: "insanity of war" ... is good for text books.
It is not dangerous. War becomes an abstract aberration.

There is little hint in it as to the real smell of death. Or how
pervasive that smell is.

The stink of the classroom goes unnoticed.

In the morning one can talk about the "insanity of war" and march
in the afternoon .... Or in the evening send one's children to march.

Good citizens know what duty is and what it sometimes
makes necessary.

DADA understands that war is very sane and not an aberration.
War is an outgrowth of, and connected deeply to, the structures
of though within the culture.

DADA attempted an energetic and direct physical assault on
those structures. Unfortunately the attack did little damage.