Although the Dadaists were not the first to direct their
movement through a manifesto, they approached the type of political output of
text as a means of self-reflection of the movement. By creating these manifestos that stated what
they as artists were about it left no room for extreme criticism. Rather, they created a whole new platform for
the art critics to respond to the pieces and exhibitions. Unlike the other art
manifestos that were written in avant-garde movements, the Dada artists wrote
multiple versions. Different artists
composed their own version of the manifesto, and others wrote multiple forms.
Along with the manifestos, came journals. These journals were especially prominent in
the Dada movement. The beginnings of mass
communication were being unleashed and artists took this new format as an
opportunity to showcase different techniques. Within these journals, different manifestos
were published, presenting themselves to the reader. Dada journals were the first of its kind to utilize the platform for the source of main interaction. Throughout Europe different journals were published, giving way to international exchange of the movement. Journals came out of the Netherlands, produced by Theo van Doesburg, and in Yugoslavia, Dragan Aleksić produced the Yugo-Dada magazine. In the main centers where Dadaism was formulated, like Paris, New York, and Zurich, you see the same production as well. Although they were separately located, the Dada artists communicated extensively, sharing ideas, art, and formats.
The journals were not simply like a magazine seen today, but
they were a new technique of art that was carefully planned out and
structured. From the front cover to the
last page they were carefully composed.
The thought that went in to each edition did not mean that they were
simple for the reader to understand though.
The new use of typography made the page more complex, where the reader
may be turning the page around and around just to read every word written on
it. The words were also meant to be
nonsensical, and disorderly on the page.
The Blind Man, a journal set up by Marcel Duchamp,
Henri-Pierre Roché, and Beatrice Wood, was set up precisely to commentate on
the Independents Artists Exhibition of
1917. In the first edition the
creators made a call for responses to the exhibition pieces by writing:
Write about the Indeps, or about any
special work in the Exhibition.
A dramatic story of less than one hundred
words.
A comic story of less than one hundred
words.
A dream story of less than one hundred
words.
A quatrain, or a limerick
A song (words and music)
-Roché
By putting this call in the journal, he takes away the art critic’s
job, similar to the manifestos doing. Choosing two different options from above I responded to the call, not
focusing on the Exhibition, but rather two pieces from the Dada artists that
spoke to me.
A dream story:
Bicycle Wheel – Marcel Duchamp
Spinning, staring, spinning, staring
Lost in the lines
The cold metals lines
Through them light shines
Staring, Spinning, Staring
The shining light comes faster, closer, faster
It pulls you in.
Taking you over
The light consumes
Coldness covers as the spinning lines are overtaken
Thoughts spill around you
The words that travel through the mind
The light pushes through you
Cold, bright light fills your mind
But
It falls back
The light recedes
Screaming for it to come back
But the thoughts return
The spinning stops
The entrancement is off
Staring, Staring, StaringA limerick:
Hugo Ball - Karawane
To create those words with just a sound
Corresponding to the head smashed in to the ground
Critically in relation to children’s screaming cry
Take the face and shove it straight in to pie
To stop the constant overpowering pound
It is a natural action to automatically interpret art and
place it on the subjective sphere of aesthetic pleasure. In the process of responding to the call of
The Blind Man no. 1, that passed and I was more playfully interactive with the
pieces. A moment of freedom.
