Dada

For the first half of term the theme that all of our areas were based upon was Dada.

Dada was a litery and artistic protest movement against the barbarism of WW1, set up by a group of artists from Zurich who wanted to break the boundaries of distinct art forms. As a loosely-affiliated group of like-minded artists, they were particularly interested in using humor and antagonism to question the definition of a work of art.

Aims:

• Reject the laws of beauty
• Ignore aesthetic
• To represent the opposite of all that art stood for - Anti-art
• Leave the interpretation to the viewer
• Express their nihilistic view of the world
• Create an art in which chance and randomness formed the basis of creation
•  Express  confusion
• To offend all sensibilities

Marcel Duchamp performed the most notable outrages by painting a moustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa and proudly placing a urinal as a work of art in to an exhibition.

Duchamp's 'Mona Lisa' (1919)

Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' (1503-6)

Duchamp also created 'ready mades' which were ordinary utilitarian objects that he selected and modified to re-defining art. Below is his 'Bicycle Wheel', a sculpture made by conjoining a bicycle wheel and a stool.

Marcel Duchamp 'Bicycle Wheel' (1913)