"DADA, as
for it, it smells of nothing, it is nothing, nothing, nothing." – Francis
Picabia
On 5th February 1916, amidst the carnage of
World War One, the Cabaret Voltaire was established in neutral Zurich. Founded
by, among others, Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings it became the focus of the anti-war,
anti-art and anarchist cultural movement known as Dada. Other founding members
included Richard Huelsenbeck, Tristan Tzara, Jean Arp, Marcel Janco and Sophie
Taeuber-Arp.
Rather than focusing on creating works of art, Dada questioned,
challenged and ridiculed society, the artist and art, which enhanced the
anarchist nature of the group – Dada is Anti Dada. A review in American Art
News described Dada as “ the sickest, most
paralyzing and most destructive thing that has ever originated from the brain
of a man”.
Dada is perhaps best known in the art world for its
ready-made objects which further challenged the creative nature of art –
Duchamp’s urinal is the most famous. It also embraced chaos and chance in
techniques such as cut-ups, montages and industrial mass produced artwork.
Legend has it
that the name Dada was created by randomly sticking a knife in a dictionary
where is landed on the French word for hobby-horse. It also means “Yeah, right”
in Romanian which makes it particularly suitable as an anti-authoritarian word.
Obviously with such an anarchic international organisation, the origin of its
name is hotly debated!
Among the many refugees who washed up in Zurich were
artists from all over Europe. The Cabaret Voltaire was based on a French
cabaret nightclub and named in homage to the satirical writer and leading
Enlightenment figure Voltaire. On February 2nd 1916 a press release
stated “Cabaret Voltaire. Under this name a group of young
artists and writers has been formed whose aim is to create a centre for
artistic entertainment. The idea of the cabaret will be that guest artists will
come and give musical performances and readings at the daily meetings. The
young artists of Zurich, whatever their orientation, are invited to come along
with suggestions and contributions of all kinds.”
The often
raucous events included music, dance and spoken word performances including
experimental sound poetry. Among the artists performing at the Cabaret Voltaire
were Kandinsky, Klee, de Chiroco, Max Ernst and the Futurist Marinetti. On July
28th 1916 Hugo Ball read out his seminal Dada Manifesto in the Waag
Hall; at that time he probably could never have imagined that Dada would spread
across several countries and become one of the most influential art movements
of the 20th Century. Zurich of 1916 was also a relatively permissive
environment where radical, and even revolutionary, ideas could flourish.
It became very
apparent to the earlier founders of Dada that the horrors of war that surrounded
them were largely due to outdated bourgeois values which dominated European
society and government. This brutal society needed to be destroyed and replaced
by a newly created more human community.
The Cabaret
Voltaire closed later in 1916 but Dada had been initiated. Hugo Ball separated
from Dada in 1920 and became a Christian, leaving Tristan Tzara to become the
main instigator of the school. After many uses over the years, the Cabaret
Voltaire building at Spiegelgasse 1 was reopened in 2004 as a lively cultural
establishment.
Dada’s sound
poems, noise music, simultaneous poetry reading, bizarre dances, cut-ups and
anti-authoritarian rants influenced many radical cultural movements throughout
the 20th Century including Surrealism, Lettrism, COBRA, the
Situationist International, Pop Art, Fluxus, punk, Neoists, neo-Situationists,
and a myriad of individual writers (including William Burroughs), freethinkers,
ranters and artists. And, of course, the band Cabaret Voltaire is named after
the place. The place of Dada in the rich strand of radical (anti)art has been
endlessly researched, but the most lucid starting point is The Assault on
Culture by Stewart Home, which is unfortunately out of print but can be seen
here in digital format: https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/sp/assault.htm
On May 15th
1916, Ball published a pamphlet called Cabaret Voltaire in which he wrote "When I founded the Cabaret Voltaire, I was of the
opinion that there ought to be a few young people in Switzerland who not only
laid stress, as I did, on enjoying their independence, but also wished to
proclaim it. I went to Mr. Ephraim, the owner of the "Meierei"
restaurant and said, 'Please, Mr. Ephraim, let me have your hall. I want to make
a cabaret.' Mr. Ephraim agreed. So I went to some friends of mine and asked
them, 'Please, let me have a picture, a drawing, an engraving. I want to have
an exhibition to go with my cabaret.' And I went to the friendly press of
Zürich and said, 'Write a few notes. It shall be an international cabaret. We
want to do some beautiful things.' And they gave me pictures, and they wrote
the notes. So, on February 5th, we had our cabaret. Mrs. Hennings and Mrs.
Leconte sang French and Danish songs. Mr. Tristan Tzara recited Roumanian
verses. A balalaika band played some charming Russian folk-songs and dances.
Much support and sympathy came to me from Mr. Slodki, who designed the poster
for the Cabaret; and from Mr. Hans Arp, who placed at my disposal a few works by
Picasso, in addition to his own works, and who also got me some pictures from
his friends: O. van Rees and Arthur Segal.
There was also much assistance from
Messrs. Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, and Max Oppenheimer, who willingly
expressed their readiness to appear at the cabaret. We organized a Russian
soirée, and soon after a French one as well (with works by Apollinaire, Max
Jacob, André Salmon, A. Jarry, Laforgue, and Rimbaud). On February 26th,
Richard Huelsenbeck came from Berlin, and on March 30th we performed fabulous
Negro music (always with the big drum, boom, boom, boom-drabatja mo gere
drabatja mo boonooo...). Mr. Laban was present at the performance and was quite
enthusiastic. Thanks to the initiative of Mr. Tristan Tzara, who along with
Huelsenbeck and Janco, performed for the first time in Zürich and, indeed, in
the whole world, simultaneous verses by Messrs. Henri Barzun and Fernand
Divoire, as well as a simultaneous poem of their own composition.
For the
little pamphlet we are publishing today, we have to thank our own initiative
and the assistance of our friends in France, Italy, and Russia. It is to
exemplify the activities and the interests of the cabaret, whose whole
endeavour is directed at reminding the world, across the war and various
fatherlands, of those few independent spirits that live for other ideals. The
next aim of the artists united here is to publish an international periodical.
This will appear at Zürich and will be called 'DADA Dada Dada Dada Dada.'"
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