MoMA and Dada

World War I and Dada:

What is Dada and why did it come into existence? The concept of Dada art sprung from the disillusionment of World War I-era artists who wished to rebel against conventional art by questioning what makes something art. Dada did not come from a desire to create art, but rather to criticize art and the world. 

Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade:

Discuss Duchamp's notion of Readymades. What are they? Duchamp wished to question what constituted art and how it should be made by presenting typical everyday objects as works of art. 

How do they change your expectations of what art can be? Readymades defied the previously held notion that art should be beautiful and that art should be special and unique. 

Chance Creations: Collage, Photomontage, and Assemblage:

Dada artists turned to non-art making strategies...

                     What did they embrace? Chance, accident, and improvisation.

                     Why did they take this approach? A form of personal protest and a tool for critiquing the                                                                             world they lived in.

Artist Collaboration: 

What is the value of art made by Dadaists? Not the work produced, but the act of making and collaborating with others to create.

Word Play:

How and why did Dada artists work with words? To free text and speech from conventional rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, artists would turn words and letters into abstract forms.