Dada 100th Anniversary

Self-Portrait of Swiss dada artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp with Dada-head
Self-Portrait of Swiss dada artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp with Dada-head © Nic Aluf Studio, 1920, Courtesy of the Foundation Arp

One February evening in 1916, Cabaret Voltaire was born in Zurich with a primal scream that still resonates today: «Dada, Dada, Dada». Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Marcel Janco, Sophie Taeuber and Richard Huelsenbeck roared, danced, sang and stomped «Dada».

From that point onward, Cabaret Voltaire evolved into a melting pot of nationalities, art genres and styles. Dada was hypermodern, provocative, inventive and dissolved the boundaries that separated life from art. By the beginning of the 1920s, Dada had become a worldwide network.

By way of their «movement international» and «world congresses», the protagonists occupied and roamed through the world’s big cities with the aim of turning the globe into a branch of Dadaism. Dada became avant-garde’s primal expression without which surrealism, pop art, fluxus, mail art or punk would not have seen the light of day and which continues to galvanize artists, writers and designers to this very day. (source: dada100zuerich2016)
Dada and Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire: swissinfo 

The Cabaret Voltaire on Spiegelgasse 1 in Zurich photographed around 1930
© The Cabaret Voltaire on Spiegelgasse 1 in Zurich photographedaround 1930

The movement also reached the shores of Japan. A prominent dada group was «Mavo», founded in July 1923 by Tomoyoshi Murayama and Masamu Yanase. Other prominent artists were Jun Tsuji, Eisuke Yoshiyuki, Shinkichi Takahashi and Katsue Kitasono.

 

Hugo Ball in costume at the Cabaret
Hugo Ball in costume at the Cabaret Voltaire © Hugo Ball / Cabaret Voltaire
Iwane Sumiya
Iwane Sumiya © A Chronology of Art from a Slightly Architectural Perspective, MOMAT
Bread Man:Tatsumi Orimoto
©Tatsumi Orimoto "Breadman", São Paulo Bienale Brazil 1991

Program

Various cultural institutions, including Super Deluxe and Dommune, are planning to mark the occasion in Japan with special activities and events in July 2016.

info: dada100

A Chronology of Art from a Slightly Architectural Perspective

Tomoyoshi Murayama
© Tomoyoshi Murayama "Construction" 1925, oil, paper, wood, cloth, metal and leather 84.0×112.5 signed and dated l.l.O00705, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

DEC 22, 2015 - FEB 28, 2016, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

6year Exhibition LIBRAIRIE6

FEB 20 - MAR 20, LIBRAIRIE6, Tokyo 

Exhibition "1923"

1923
© Tatsuo Okada seated in Ticket Vendor / Kiosk made in collaboration of Mavo and NNK, at "The Second Sanka Exhibition" (1925).

- Action, Mavo, Futurismo, DVL and others-  MAR 3 - APR 3, Asakusa, Tokyo 

Dada 100 year : Fluxus Film Screening

image forum festival
© Image Forum Festival 2016

APR 29 - July, 30th Image Forum Festival 2016, Tokyo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Yokohama

 

DOMMUNE: DECODING of DADA

DOMMUNE
© DOMMUNE

Dada 100th Anniversary Program「DECODING of DADA」

JUN 20, DOMMUNE, Tokyo

Exhibition:Thomas Hirschhorn and others (tentative)

ASAKUSA
© ASAKUSA

JUL 21 - AUG 21, ASAKUSA, Tokyo

Gallery Voltaire

Spiral
© Spiral

AUG 4 - AUG 28, Spiral, Tokyo

AUG 4 - AUG 14 Exhibition:TOLTA
AUG 6     Performance by TOLTA
AUG 6     Performance "sti l I I I I I ive" by Yuki Kobayashi, Sandra Stanionyte, Hollie Miller, Saskia Vranken, Paula Fitzsimons, Nigel Rolfe / Royal College of Art, Professor School of Fine Art (Performance)
AUG 18 -AUG 28 (tentative) Exhibition & Performance: Kouhei Sekigawa  

Partner Institutions

Dada100th anniversay in Japan
Embassy of Switzerland in Japan