The creation of a label

http://www.matthewlangley.com/blog/?p=526

A name.  Everything obtains its name in different ways.  There are words that are universal, while other symbols change throughout each language it encompasses.  A name though, sticks.  A name defines and gives meaning to something.  And everything that is, must begin with a name.

Dada- said by most to have no meaning.

This art movement was short, but significant.  The name is necessary for the artists who took part in it, even though they all wanted to reject the idea of “movements”. 

Those who began what is known today as Dada Art within the Cabaret Voltaire, Hugo Ball, Emmy Hemmings, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Arthur Segal, Jean Arp, and Richard Huelsenbeck, all came together to disrupt the art school ways.  So came about this word Dada. 

Supposedly, Huelsenbeck and Ball came upon the word in a French-German dictionary. To Ball, it fit.  As noted in Huelsenbeck’s diary, “Dada is ‘yes, yes’ in Romanian, ‘rocking horse’ and ‘hobby horse’ in French.” “For Germans it is a sign of foolish naiveté, joy in procreation, and preoccupation with the baby carriage.”   

It covered each language those joined together had known.

Although saying it was found in a dictionary rather than just a couple syllables that rolled off someone’s tongue and everyone yelled, “THAT’S IT! We should call what we are spending all our days doing Dada!”, takes away from the charm of randomness.  But we should always remember that names have purpose.

Ball Manifesto on Dada