Tag Archives: Tristan Tzara

confusion as intent

Dada. They brought to a sharp focus the dilemma in which making choices between so-called alternatives was a lost cause. Tristan Tzara ( of chess with Lenin fame ) saw opposites as essentially equivalent. Order=disroder. affirmation=negation. The efforts to incite … Continue reading

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everything is broken

Narrative momentum. The very element lacking in our daily life. Are sort seems to be what Walter Benjamin called “messy antics” ; making new out of the scrap heap of discard, an early perception of appropriation and genre bending that … Continue reading

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guns or butter

If we eat iron it will make us strong. Political satire of the most biting. But satire by nature accepts and is somewhat complicit in the forces that brought what is being critiqued to the fore. The Dadaism of which … Continue reading

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pledging alleigance to the hollow man

It was to address the decline of individuality. In the new technological world, the individual had meaning and value only to the extent it was in the service of this new instrumentality. Artistically, though artists generally targeted their work into … Continue reading

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women and television : its raining men at the zoo

If something is not spiritual, then its opposite can be seen as nihilistic. There is a good possibility at that television and mass market entertainment is for the most part, rooted in Dadaist thought. The ready-made, the generic; the abolition … Continue reading

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I’m lovin’ it: burger all dressed with guilt

Is McDonald’s the ultimate symbol of imperialism? It seems to be a composite symbol of many factors. Sometimes what we think it is acts as a facade, a narrative of disavowal that is a bit superficial since these stories are … Continue reading

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cabaret voltaire: an arcade project

Dada as just another shop, another boutique in the arcade? Dada put into question the myths surrounding originality, and the relationship of the artist to the category of “genius”. Dada suggested instead, or implied that everyone could be an artist, … Continue reading

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a silent noise:from babylon to broadway

She rarely showed he paintings publicly and refused to put any of her work up for sale. Of course, she came from a wealthy family and didn’t have to sell her art to survive or play the art game with … Continue reading

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drawing on pre-human sources

Its an old idea. The typical John Doe sees an abstract expressionist painting, and explains to himself that there is no justice in this world. Why should the likes of Willam de Kooning, Jackson Pollock et al. be so immortalized … Continue reading

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dada chess: logic vs. transcendence

Lenin’s chance meeting with dadaist Tristan Tzara in 1916 was ostensibly arranged to play chess. Was there something in Dada that piqued the revolutionary passions? Or was it a case of a parallax gap; two points between which no connection, … Continue reading

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