Saturday, February 23, 2013

Dadaism and Anarchism

Dadaism is purposely illogical, and destructive. It attempts to disrupt the "old order" and culture of the pre World War II days. Anarchy and Dadaism seem to go hand in hand, and both were on the rise after World War II, which is only natural after the governments in place allowed millions of young lives to be lost. Dali himself, who was a leader in the Dada movement, was also an anarchist and a communist, but later switched and became an anarchist and a monarchist-a very strange combination of left and right political allegiance. It's not clear whether Dadaism influenced early anarchists or whether anarchists influenced early dada artists, but it is evident that the two movements are very similar. It is not an anomaly for art and politics to cross over: realist art in the form of realism and photography complimented Realpolitik and liberal movements nicely.

3 comments:

wkuehne said...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/sep/29/dada-art-anarchy-punk

Michell D said...

I think that anarchism and Dadaism were created and formulated independently of each other, but they definitely fueled each others' fires (that is awkward to say/write.) The similarities of the movements are a testimate to how people felt about structured order at the time because they both lash out against the society. Both orders disagreed with the "old world" because they were trying to disrupt it and create something new. So they could feed off each other to create that changed world.

Cassidy George said...

That article about Dadaism and the Sex Pistols is super interesting. I love the Sex Pistols' music, and I agree that the themes of Dada art strike a distinct parallel to their punk musical masterpieces. Both the Pistols and the Dadaists are anti tradition in their respective artistic fields. The Dadaists wanted to poke fun at the pretentious art world in the same way that the Pistols wanted to obliterate any kind of mainstream music. These strong ANTI sort of feelings were both nfluenced by the social/cultural/political settings of their respective times. Dada art and the Sex Pistols' songs are both dripping with irony; they're like a kick in the stomach. Both are (equally awesome) reactionary punk art movements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z2M_hpoPwk
also for anyone that has never experienced the band...... this is their most recognized song