Dada is a life style, not art

Dada Zurich

Still the cradle of dada stands in Zurich. There dada got its name. Uncertain is how. Probably the term 'dada' is randomly picked from a dictionary, but around 1915 their existed a soap brand Dada which might given the dadaists inspiration. Other explanations are that dada is a combination of the affirmative Russian outcry 'da' or that 'dada' is the first word uttered by babies.

The reason Zurich grew from the sleepy, provincial town into an important cultural meeting point is the First World War. Because of the violence Zurich became a safe haven for pacifists, semi-pacifists, left radicals (Lenin lived in the neigbourhood of Cabaret Voltaire), writers (James Joyce), artists, poets, dancers (especially Laban's dance school became famous in those times) and weapon dealers.

Ball started the Cabaret Voltaire but the real protagonists of dada in Zurich became the Rumanian poet Tristan Tzara and the German writer Richard Huelsenbeck. Striking is the fact that these ambitious artists never got the international artistic acknowledgement they persevered. More important than their poems and their novels was the profound influence both artists had on the cultural life of metropolis like Paris and Berlin.

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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