DADA MANIFESTO (1916, HUGO BALL)

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A Peer-Review Academic Resource , ‘Dada’ was a literary and artistic movement born in Europe at a time when the horror of the World War 1 was being played out in what amounted to citizens’ front yards. Due to the war, a number of German and French artists, writers and intellectuals found themselves congregating in the refuge that Zurich offered. Hence, as is mentioned in the Dada Manifesto by Hugo Ball, “tomorrow everyone in Zurich will be talking about it.” The “it” is referring to dada. Hugo continues to describe Dada as an “international word, very easy to understand. Quite terribly simple…honored poets, who are always writing with words but never the word itself, who are always writing around the actual point” (second paragraph of the Manifesto). The later part of the quotation in bold triggers my interest and I will like to use the body of this essay to discuss my view.

First of all I am agreeing with this quote, “…honored poets, who are always writing with words but never the word itself, who are always writing around the actual point.” This goes hand in hand with what the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy says about Dada: “its artists not artists and its art not art.” I find this very interesting to attract some lamentation. Art and artists encompass more than just painting; it covers music, dance, writing, poetry and other forms. How is Dada revealed in poetry?

It is as simple as “baby talk” and the renowned Dada poet, Tristan Tzara, describes Dada. Some say Dada means “hobby horse” in French. It German it means “good bye”, “get off my back”: as Hugo puts it in his manifesto. All these meanings and interpretations of Dada boil down to mean null or void or baseless in my vocabulary. Similarly, the language and choice of words pots used in that time between World War 1 and World War 2, made their writings meaningless as they just never express that reality in simple contextual sense.

One of the most famous Dada artist mentioned already was Tristan Tzara. He was Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. His work became a main feature of the early Dadaism and represented its Nihilistic side. Similarly, poetry should not just express; it should reveal the reality, for example: poems composed during the World War period show the reality of the damage and the scars that were left on the German economy. Poets focused more on the literary techniques to dress up their writing and the true face of the experience is not seen. It’s just expressed. The truth is veiled with words that just play around the poets’ stance, and verse after verse still doesn’t show the exact picture. For this reason, Dada is so sarcastic about all this literature that shields the truth with fancy words. So without a doubt, the devastation of the World wars gave birth to Nihilism with Dada as an offspring.

Again, I totally favor Hugo’s critics about “writing with words, but never the word itself.” The articles give to read state that “Dadaist who spoke of the untruth of style argued that stylized artistic products only mask the suffering of the oppressed. If life is ugly then art should be ugly.” Many of us need to break away from our fantasies and see the REAL whether it is ugly or beautiful. Poets and other artists shouldn’t just paint a picture with nice words or pretty colors and lines.

If art (poems) continue to conceal the reality, then society cannot elevate as at face value, everything is perfect. No changes are necessary and no actions need to be taken. If Nihilism didn’t surface and writers like Nietzsche hadn’t brought light to the shocking and grotesque pictures of the corruption the German society was facing after the two wars, then World War 1 and World War 2 wouldn’t have made headlines in our history and nothing would have been left to tell the numerations there after.

Modern day’s poets need to compose verses that describe the real truth of life in simple words that speak for themselves. What is ugly should be depicted as ugly and what is beautiful should be portrayed as beautiful.

 

REFRENCES

 

1.       Expressionism, Dadaism, “New Objectivity” – Saturday, September 6, 2014 Class Readings

 

2.       Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A Peer-Reviewed Resource

         Wiki Encyclopedia

 

3.       Dada Manifestor by Hugo Ball, 1916 - Wikisource