Dada is a life style, not art

Dada soiree

The evening starts like other dada soirees in Rotterdam, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden, Den Haag and Drachten. Equipped with gaiters, black suite, black shirt, white tie and monocle Theo van Doesburg leisurely sits with his legs over one another and reads from his pamphlet 'Wat is dada?'. "Dada, the fright of the clubfateuil bourgeois, of the art critic, of the artist, of the rabbit breeder, of the hottentot - of who not", he starts. "A subject like this is perhaps the least suitable for a profound lecture, something I utterly quiescent." The public roars, peeps, shrieks, whistles and waves in confirmation of the latter. The last thing people want, is to act serious.

Then the shoemaker in his house jacket stands up and blows his nose noisily. He folds his handkerchief quietly and neatly and cries out several penetrating shrieks. Kurt Schwitters has made himself known to the public. Sometimes he just began bellowing sound poems, like the large composition Ursonate (in MP3 fomat).

That is how every dada soiree in the Netherlands began.

Nellie van Doesburg played piano pieces of avantgarde composers as Van Domselaer, Francis Poulenc, Vittorio Rieti and Erik Satie. She became known as the 'dadaistic musical instrument'. Besides her Theo van Doesburg performed his pamphlet 'Wat is dada?', Kurt Schwitters recited sound poems and other poems, and the Hungarian Vilas Huszar made the decors. Huszar made furore with his moving doll that was projected as a silhouette on the walls.

Zaal Rosehaghe
Dada soirée
Dada Holland
Life = art
Dada stands for diversity
History of dada
Dada Zurich
Dada Berlin and Paris
The end of dada
Heritage of dada
The dadaist

Updated 3 april 2001; Comments to Martin Woestenburg.

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