Dada Performance Art

Dadaism is a movement that arose in response to the horrors of World War I. The Dadaists blamed all elements of the "prevailing order" for the war, including all cultural institutions. Dadaists believed it was necessary to destroy all the emblems of bourgeios society and to start anew. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada; Retrieved October 31, 2007)

The Dadaists opened a type of cafe/theater/gallery called the Cabaret Voltaire where works of Dadaist artists were displayed and where poets, writers and artists performed on stage. The performances were designed to shock and to provoke as much controversy as possible. There were poems recited by groups of artists speaking different words simultaneously, strange dances by artists wearing grotesque masks and costumes, stomping and banging of pots and pans, incantations of writings by ancient mystics, and other performances that were deliberately bizarre and non-sensical. (http://www.peak.org/~dadaist/English/Graphics/cabaret_voltaire.html; Retrieved October 31, 2007)

The Dadaists undoubtedly had a major influence on modernism as the first openly counter-culture art movement and as a force for breaking down barriers between various art forms and within the field of visual art itself. By questioning everything and holding nothing as sacrosanct, it gave artists total freedom to express themselves creatively.