Elizabeth Benjamin

Introduction: ‘I Rebel, Therefore We Are’

‘I rebel, therefore we are’ introduces the proposed comparison of Dada and Existentialism by briefly summarising the ways in which Dada can be aligned with French Existentialism based in the individual members’ interests in theory, as well as the ways in which the French Existentialists incorporated Dada into their theoretical texts. From a springboard of Huelsenbeck’s 1957 essay ‘Dada and Existentialism’, this introduction assesses Huelsenbeck’s claim, while taking up his invitation to fully analyse the potential for links between the two movements. The introduction ends by positing the book’s main thesis: not only that there are substantive links between these two movements, but also that these are to be found through the foregrounding of a self based in a quest for authenticity, attained through ambiguity.

Choice and Individuality in the Many Masks of Dada

‘Choice and Individuality in the Many Masks of Dada’ primarily investigates the work of the prolific yet undervalued Dada artist Sophie Taeuber. Providing much needed focus on the value of this artist’s works as separate from current attention to Taeuber based purely on her biological gender, this chapter evaluates the role of Existentialist choice and individuality through Taeuber’s works that centre on the notion of masking, as well as several other Dada works: Raoul Hausmann’s Mechanical Head, Hannah Hoch’s Dada Dolls, and costumes by Hans/Jean Arp and Marcel Janco, along with the dances performed within these costumes. The chapter posits that the existential value of these works stems precisely from their rampant interdisciplinarity, and performs this value through the consequent expression of authenticity through ambiguity.

Censorship and Freedom in Dada and Beyond

When Dada exploded into the world in 1916, it was met with disapproval by the good people of Zurich. Almost simultaneously in New York, Duchamp’s urinal was rejected as degenerate. In Paris, Dada events often ended in violence—against and within the group of performers—and occasionally with the police being called. Dada spread mischief in every city that it called home, seeking to shake society into readdressing its role within the madness of wartime ‘civilisation’. Deviance was Dada’s status quo and scandal was its modus operandi. Yet within a few short years, Dada declared itself dead; the avant-garde’s most notorious group of misfits disbanded and moved on, several members denying any continuing association. Almost a century later, Dada has been incorporated into galleries and academic research; anti-art has become viewed as art. In short, the Dada that was once pelted with rotten vegetables has become acceptable, desired, and commodified. Previously censored words, acts and art works are now celebrated—including through their hefty price tags—instead of reviled. Has the designation of respectability become a form of censorship in its own right?

Truth and Travesties in the Telling and Retelling of Dada (Hi)Stories

Truth and Travesties in the Telling and Retelling of Dada (Hi)Stories addresses the development of Dada history through the various ways the Dadas manipulated the documentation of the movement, both at the time and afterwards. Incorporating the postmodern Dada contributor Tom Stoppard and his plays Travesties and Artist Descending a Staircase, the chapter analyses Dada and post-Dada accounts in tandem with discussions of Existentialist concepts of truth, lies and doubt. The chapter investigates the correlation of these themes in Dada and Existentialism, including through the literature of Existentialism, notably Sartre’s La Nausee. The chapter explores the possibility of multiplicity of truth, to posit that truth is not only in the eye of, but also created by, the beholder, and furthermore is in constant flux.

Responsibility and Justice in the Dada Literary Event

Responsibility and Justice in the Dada Literary Event performs a comparative analysis of Camus’s trial of his character Meursault from the infamous L’Etranger, and the much lesser known mock trial of Maurice Barres by the Dada movement. Through analysing the choice of both accused and witnesses, the crimes and the processes of the trials, the chapter assesses the way in which both Dada and Existentialism constantly draw into question aspects of human behaviour that seem to be unjust by virtue of bowing to external pressures. Exploring the ways in which the French intellectual scene has indicted the system of societal justice, this assessment posits that Dada and Existentialist trials have sought to highlight the inauthenticity of an objective system that sorts and judges subjective individuals.

Conclusion: ‘Let Us Try to Assume Our Fundamental Ambiguity’

Let Us Try to Assume Our Fundamental Ambiguity performs a final reassessment of the theoretical, aesthetic and ethical link between Dada and French Existentialism, bringing together the major conclusions reached in the five main chapters of the book. This chapter adds physical crossovers of the movements through the activities of its members to the theoretical convergence highlighted throughout, illustrating the very real possibility of a relationship between Dada and Existentialism. Drawing on contemporary examples of Dada’s influence, as well as gently detaching the movement from its common depiction as a mere appendage of Surrealism, this concluding section highlights the importance of the philosophies of Dada and Existentialism in society today, as well as reasserting their significance as movements and areas of study in their own right.

Alienation and Reality in Dada Film

Alienation and Reality in Dada Film investigates the fragile relationship that Dada film highlights between filmic identity and the cinematic experience. The chapter focuses on four Dada films—Man Ray’s Le Retour a la raision and Emak Bakia, Leger and Murphy’s Le Ballet mecanique, and Clair and Picabia’s Entr’acte—to propose that they perform a Dada(ist) critique of the Existentialist notion of alienation. Exploring disruptions and alterations of perception, including aphasia, pareidolia, and synaesthesia, the chapter analyses the existential potential of these Dada works as part of a wider assessment of the presentation and manipulation of reality. The chapter presents and investigates different approaches to the concept of reality to posit that Dada’s destruction thereof allows for a creative, subjective perception based in the viewer.