New Dada

Dada is making a comeback, though New Dada is not to be confused with Original Dada.

Original Dada examined things on their surface and then, once fully understanding them, re-arranged those surfaces so that they had new meaning.

 Original Dada is a movement I don't want explained; it seems to me that is purpose of Dada--that anyone who comes to Dada is expected to create their own explanation of what Dada is explaining.

Original Dada can best be seen in the art of Kurt Schwitters and Marcel Duchamp, and was formulated by men and women traumatized by World War I.

New Dada disdains art and has tried to trick Original Dada into acting against its own self-interest, but gradually so that us common folks won't see, away from the art magazines and small independent art galleries to the opinion pages of daily newspapers and the world-wide web.

Original Dada was a movement wherein men and women attempted to make sense of what couldn't be made sense of, to make something new out of the non-sense, and to have some fun.

New Dada is humorless, dry, and angry, a singular political movement led by childish men and women of privilege. 

Original Dada--Inspected, collage, Kurt Schwitters, 1940, stamp, string, envelope, and paint on paper, 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 in., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.