Joel Alvarado

2/14/2015

LEH 355

Second Assignment Quote

                                                               “Dada Manifesto

            In the article, “Dada Manifesto” by Hugo Ball there is a highly important quote that states, “How does one achieve eternal bliss? By saying dada. How does one become famous? By saying dada. With a noble gesture and delicate propriety. Till one goes crazy. Till one loses consciousness. How can one get rid of everything that smacks of journalism, worms, everything nice and right, blinkered, moralistic, europeanised, enervated? By saying dada” (Ball 1916). The idea of “Dada” was trying to be implied in that particular quote but it is composed of many other elements that brought about the whole “Dada” movement. The movement was a sort of rebellion that went against all of the norms of society. It started in Zurich, Switzerland at about 1916 by a group of artist such as Hugo Ball.

            The creators of the “Dada” movement knew that it was a good way of bringing awareness to society in a complete different way as oppose to using the regular traditional methods. It was expressed in many different ways, including different styles of paintings, a variety of performance art to poetry, photography and sculptures. The context of the works of art had different purposes and implied different things such as social and economic awareness, preoccupation amongst the individuals of society and some even showed emphasis on the concern of technological advances. I personally believe that the quote places a good definition on what the movement really is and I also agree with the author on the idea that sometimes, new things need to be created in order for change to occur. Although the idea of “Dada” may sound weird it was one of the major influences behind WWI.