The Deconstruction of Art and Performance in Dada - Coursework Example

The Deconstruction of Art and Society in Dada Introduction There were several changes that were occurring in art in the 20th century based on the rebellion of traditional means of literature and performance as well as cultural changes in society. A movement that was known to propel forward the changes of experimentation and avant – garde was the Dada movement. The Dada movement began with breaking traditional rules of literature and performance while creating a set of experiments that were significant for the new century. The movement was important not only in defining experimentation during the time that it was created, but also led into contemporary concepts still used in art today. Through this movement, there was the ability to propel forward several concepts and philosophies that were not accepted in the past and which broke the structure of traditional art into new forms and means of expression. Definition of Dada The concept of Dada began in 1916 in Zurich, Switzerland and was known as a branch from other 20th century literary movements, such as expressionism and avant – garde concepts. The main ideology that was used was to create a sense of deconstruction that was in literature and art and which allowed for new interpretations and symbols to be constructed in turn. More importantly, the movement was designed to deconstruct the old values and traditions of art and to replace this with the idea of anti as art and as a form of expression. “A first and key determination of such art is its negativity. It is anti - : anti religion, anti – mortality, anti – nature, and in the end even anti – art. ‘We were all propelled,’ writes Hans Richter, ‘by the same powerful vital impulse. It drove us to fragmentation or destruction of all artistic forms, and to rebellion for rebellion’s sake; to an anarchistic negation of all values…. The worlds and its values were rejected for the sake of freedom” (Harries, 61). The concept of rebellion for the idea of freedom came through with the deconstruction that was in the expression of art and literature. Those that were a part of the dada movement were interested in fragmenting reality until it was no longer a reality, and instead was a reflection of a loss of ideas of communication, language and the structures of art. The concept of deconstructing reality through Dada was followed with the philosophies of artists that were a part of the movement and the expressions of the time. The artistic thoughts were known to relate directly to the time frame and the culture that was surrounding the era. It was known during this time that the idea of reality was partly fragmented and broken because of World War I, as well as the political and cultural concepts of the time. The cultural reflections from the war and the corruption of politics were known to create a change in the exploration of reality and what it meant to be a part of a specific movement. Instead of having a sense of aesthetics and prestige in the arts, there was a movement toward the reality that was based on deconstruction and illusion. Instead, there was a belief in concepts such as the self – conscious and the beliefs that individuals held that were not as pleasing. Dada was known to carry a reflection of the discontent in society from the war as well as the belief from culture that there was a disturbed reality which was based on fears, fragmentation and an illusion of what reality meant (Goldberg, 369). To create a specific definition with Dada, there was the belief that art was one that had to move outside of the traditional boundaries and into a de-definition of what art meant for society. The defining aspect of the Dada movement was to reject all of the artistic forms, aesthetics and cultural beliefs that were a part of the past of Europe. The experimentation that the language and performance of Dada thrived on was based on what could be rejected in terms of culture, society and in the form of expression through the art. More importantly, those that were involved in the Dada movement were interested in how art affected those that were watching different performances or reading the poetry of the time. The idea was to question the human values of the time and to understand a different set of concepts toward reality. The role of the artist as well as those that were looking at the expression was a part of the de-definition through the rejection of the art. “Dada, declared that the artist had lost his function and, correspondingly, its artifacts were marked by the sense of the transient nature of a seemingly solid human reality and by a protest against a culture which had concealed its basic hollowness beneath the trappings of humanistic values. The Dadaist who, like the dandy, was characterized by eccentricity, irony and melancholy” (Bergius, 26). The concept of Dada through the artist was one that was able to redefine the ideas of art, culture and reality by rejecting the values and culture that was a part of the contemporary age. The conscious thought that was formed around these values for the artist was one that took the ideas of aesthetics and values and found a way to take out the basic definitions. The experimentation that resulted from this led to basic qualities of the artist and their perception of art as well as reality. Language and Dada The concept of Dada was one that was defined not only through the artist and the perceptions of reality that deconstructed culture and society. There were specific techniques that followed the Dada movement and which artists began to experiment with. The language that was a part of literature and performance was one of the most important aspects of the movement and helped to redefine the different concepts of moving into the “anti” of culture and society. The language that was defined by Dada moved into the same concepts of fragmentation and the ability to move away from traditional and aesthetically pleasing art. Doing this was able to create a different perception of reality and the deconstruction of society by using specific types of language. The main concept that was used with Dada was to create a format where “anything goes” as opposed to traditional forms of language. The Dada poetry and prose took out rhyme schemes, sentence structure, formatting and traditional meaning of words that were often used. The language was substituted with nonsensical words, sounds, phonetics and subversive meanings that formed the poetry and prose. Often, the artists would create the language to not make any sense, which led to the philosophies of the “anti” in art. This was followed by the idea of freeing oneself from the forms of art, writing and the structures that were used in traditional forms of language. “The liberating possibilities of Dada writing, gave a kind of license to free – associate, probe new subject matter, and use verbal collage and off – beat diction” (Motherwell, Arp, 12). The off – beat diction and the idea of the verbal collage became one that was developed through chance and randomness of the language. By associating with an “anti” – format, there was the ability to show a symbol of freedom through the use of language and structure of the poetry and prose. The main concept that was approached with the Dada movement was based on creating a language that redefined the boundaries of art and literature. Often, this led to many of the artists creating forms that had non – sensical words and sounds that were attached to the poetry and prose. The philosophy that was used with this was to create a conceptual art that moved beyond the meaning of words. Instead, the individual reading the words was required to take a concept from the poetry or prose that moved beyond language and into a symbol that had meaning or a deconstruction of meaning. The concept of language then led into the absurd specifically to create a symbol that was associated with deconstructing the ideas of language and reality as well as the aesthetics that were a part of this. Language became one of creating an experience, rather than a movement of considering the words that was used. More importantly, those that were writing in this form would move outside of the normal as a direct rebellion against language and structure and into the anti of language and description (Harrison, 37). Cabaret Voltaire and Dada Performance Another part of the Dada movement was based on the performance aspects that began to emerge as a part of the expressions of deconstruction. The first performances were created through the Cabaret Voltaire, which was started by Tristan Tzara and the performance of “The Gas Heart.” In the several performances, there was not meaning behind the poetry and the artworks that were performed. Instead, phonetics, noise and the deconstruction of performance and art were used for an effect and meaning that moved beyond the intellectual ideas of performance and poetry. In the first performance of Cabaret Voltaire, for instance, Richard Huelsenbeck, Marcel Janco and Tzara all read the poetry for the audience. However, the poets didn’t read individually, but instead competed with each other’s readings by all reading at the same time. The experiment was to create a sense of babble and anti – performance that was associated with the performance, and which reflected the ideas of culture and politics, specifically by creating a symbol of war and competition (Leaeven, 108). The different levels of experimentation that followed at the Cabaret Voltaire were based on ideas of experimentation and fragmenting realities through performance. Those that were a part of the dada and avant – garde movements would base readings and performances on the idea of destroying traditional forms and expressions that were known to be aesthetically pleasing. The artistic forms that followed created a different sense of art as a deconstruction of representation. For performance, this meant changing the sensual pleasures and aesthetics into a deconstruction of performance. The Cabaret Voltaire was known for incorporating things such as dance and poetry into movements that represented ideas and which fragmented the traditional forms of dance and literature. The experimentation that followed was designed to create a different set of senses to the audience. For instance, the dances would create movement ideas, which were fragmented and didn’t have a sense of construction. Instead, the movements each represented an idea, belief or representation of something outside of the aesthetic expectations. Sounds, words and other sounds followed the abstract forms and representations with the ability to break out of the form and structure of traditional performances. The main concept was to initiate an exploration of irrationality that broke out of forms and senses that were associated with performance (Prevots, 3). The establishment of performance through Dada and the Cabaret Voltaire became one that not only experimented with form and structure that moved outside of traditional performances. Those who were interested in the experimentation were also interested in the deconstruction of the performance not only with aesthetics, but also with relationships to the audience. There was an interest that grew in Cabaret Voltaire from the artists to change the relationship between the audience and performers. The traditional performances and readings were known to focus on the idea of the boundary between the performer and the audience, with the idea of “I” and “you” as the division. The performances were then able to expand on form and structure because the audience member was not a part of the experiment or ideas. In the Dada performance, this changed to an experience that was based on “we.” Cabaret Voltaire and other forms of performance in the Dada movement began to integrate the performers with the audience. The idea was to allow the audience to be a part of an experience that was on the stage. Deconstructing the stage through sounds, visualization and other senses was the first aspect of this performance. The deconstruction of division then moved into a genre that was able to question the institution of art through performance and literature. The experience furthered this by creating a deconstruction of the division between art and life. The more the performances were done, the more they were able to create a sense of reality that did not include the same aesthetically pleasing experiences with the audience. The performances from Cabaret Voltaire then became integral to the growth of experimentation and the representation of reality as an experience on the stage and with an integration of the audience into the theater (Scheunemann, 116). The different ideologies that were represented through Cabaret Voltaire as well as through the experimentation of different artists became known as a deconstruction of the institute of art and traditional forms. More importantly, the push that occurred with experimentation from performance toward the audience led into new avant – garde ideologies from the idea of deconstruction and anti – performance. The link of the performances and the deconstruction of form and aesthetics were known to create what was known as “aesthetic negotiation.” The negotiation used was based on the new formation of structure that was used in performances that moved against the traditional aesthetics. More importantly, there was a paradigm shift in the language, identity and traditional performance ideologies in various groups. It was known that the performances not only attacked the aesthetics of traditional performance, but also led into a reflection of politics and culture. The lack of traditional form and expression led many to an understanding that the representation of performance was also a representation of reality. Since this was based on deconstruction, there were many who understood that the reflection from performance was also based on the movement of disillusion in politics and culture. The deconstruction of society was one that was represented through the stage and from the experiments that moved against traditional institutions as a part of the negotiation that occurred with Dada and art forms (Demos, 147). Dada in Contemporary Theater The different levels of experimentation and the deconstruction of form and structure in both performance and language through Dada lasted for several years in Europe. After this time frame, the idea of Dada began to merge into other forms of experimentation and avant – garde movements. However, several of the aspects of moving into the anti of art continued to merge into contemporary theater and other movements within art. Language and performance both continue to see the ideals of Dada represented in forms of experimentation. Fragmentation, anti – movements and other concepts continue to emerge into the contemporary ideologies that many artists continue to represent within art. The concepts that are included in contemporary theater have emerged into sets of experimentation and philosophies within society. The main component that is a part of the theater experience is one that is based on the value of performance and literature as a reflection of society. The contemporary theater is known to be divided into two main components, one which is representative of the traditional aesthetics and formulas that have been used for plot and entertainment. The second branch includes several forms of experimentation that have arisen from concepts such as the avant – garde and Dada. The ideology that is a part of the experimental theater is based on questioning the relationship of theater, as well as between the performer and audience. Similar to Dada, there is a deconstruction of the values of society with an emergence of symbolism and how this reflects the consciousness of society (Brockett, 7). The idea of experimentation in theater and language from Dada began to re-emerge in the 1950s in America with the Neo – Dada movement. This specific movement led into several branches of theater and performance, as well as different concepts of literature that were able to represent the ideas of fragmentation and experimentation. The ideologies that were used with the Neo – Dada movement were based on pushing the boundaries of the aesthetics of literature and performance. The contemporary ideologies were furthered with post – modernism movements and several schools of thought that were based on breaking the boundaries of traditional art forms. The main focus that was a part of the branches of theater were based on creating new ways to deconstruct text and theater through aesthetics, form and the content that was used within specific plays. Experimentation included concepts such as distortion and creating alternative realities that were representative of the illusions that were within society (Rabkin, 44). To further the ideas of society through experimental theater, are specific philosophies that have been taken from Dada to create a specific effect with performance. For instance, a branch of Dadaism, known as experimental theater, provides specific components of avant – garde theater that create a question between the audience and the realities from the stage. For example, the use of space and the fragmentation of the performance and stage have been used in several contemporary performances. The main concept used from Dada is to fragment and deconstruct the space used to create a theological stage. When this is done, there is the ability to perform from several realistic points of view while changing the language and meaning of the performance through the space that is used on the stage. Ideas of realistic dramas are a part of this aspect, all which are based on fragmenting the idea of the stage and the division that was a part of reality and the aesthetical forms of performance. The concept from Dada was to change the space and the language to create a different meaning while producing a concept of reality that instantly changed the audience relationship to the stage (Heuvel, 1992). Another descendent of the Dada movement that is used in contemporary and experimental theater comes from the Theater of Contagion, a new type of theater. The deconstruction and fragmentation that is used with this specific ideology is one that has created a philosophy against the aesthetics of performance. The definition of theater and performance in the experimental plays of the Theater of Contagion has created an alternative concept of reality and performance. Instead of the theater being a definition of entertainment and leisure, the performances are defined as a disease or virus that spreads from the stage. This specific concept was known to emerge from Artaud’s Theater of Cruelty, which took the aesthetics of performance and changed it to the disillusions of reality and representations that were not aesthetically pleasing. The Theater of Cruelty was a direct descendent of the Dada movement, specifically because of the deconstruction of the ideas of performance and the fragmentation of performance. Many of the plays in the Theater of Cruelty were known to change the space between audience and performers to create a further sense of reality. It is the same ideologies that the Theater of Conagion carries, all which change the boundaries between the audience and performers, while creating an alternative perspective of reality from the performances created (Garner, 2). The changes of space, content and the experimentation that continues to be a part of contemporary theater has led into the newer forms of performance that break the boundaries. Fragmentation and deconstruction of performances that are in the current theaters are known to combine the concepts of Dada as well as the branches of theater, such as the Theater of Cruelty. However, many of the themes also associate concepts such as multimedia and alternatives within the performance to continue changing the boundaries and concepts that are a part of the theater. The aesthetics that are being added in with multimedia are known to continue to change the idea of value within performance while continuing to deconstruct the boundaries that are a part of experimental theater. The presentation of characters, soundscapes, displays and representations are able to take the basic ideas of Dada and to expand on the meanings that were provided through the techniques of this movement. The concepts that are created with ideologies such as multimedia are able to move into representing symbols, spaces and realities in a way that pushes the boundaries of the audience and actors. More importantly, there is the ability to change the senses and aesthetics into different meanings and understanding (Sheldrake, 1). Conclusion The movement of Dada in the early 1900s was one that was defined by the deconstruction and fragmentation of language and performance. The philosophies that the artists followed within this main ideology were based on altering the forms and structure that were traditionally used and which were considered as aesthetically pleasing. Instead, there was a basis of creating a reality that was based on the illusions of politics and culture. The performances and the experimentation that was used were meant to create specific meanings and beliefs that were based on the deconstruction of society and the idea of the “anti” within every realm of life. Through the Dada movement, there was a push into contemporary theater and new ideologies. Each of these has tested the boundaries of performance and literature through changes in space, content and context of the experiments. The Dada movement that emerged was known to create a specific relation between the ideas of experimentation and the deconstruction of artistic institutions and context within various forms of art. Works Cited Bergius, Hanne. “The Ambiguous Aesthetic of Dada: Towards a Definition of Categories”. Journal of European Studies (9), (33), 1979. Brockett, Oscar. Perspectives on Contemporary Theater. Louisiana State University Press: Louisiana, 1971. Demos, T.J. “Circulations: In and Around Zurich Dada.” October Magazine (105), 2003. Goldberg, RoseLee. “Performance – Art for All?” Art Journal (40), (1/2), 1980. Garner, Stanton. “Artaud, Germ Theory, and the Theater of Contagion. Theater Journal (58), (1), 2006. Harries, Karsten. Meaning of Modern Art. Northwest University Press: Chicago, 1968. Harrison, Charles. Essays on Art and Language. MIT Press: New York, 1991. Heuvel, Michael Vanden. “Complementary Spaces: Realism, Performance and a New Dialogue of Theater.” Theater Journal (44), (1), 1992. Leaven, Ileana. From 291 to Zurich: The Birth of Dada. Ann Arbor: New York, 1983. Motherwell, Robert, Jean Arp. The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology. Harvard University Press: Boston, 1951. Prevots, Naima. Zurich Dada and Dance: Formative Ferment. Dance Research Journal (17), (1), 1985. Rabkin, Gerald. “The Play of Misreading: Text / Theater / Deconstruction.” Performing Arts Journal (7), (1), 1983. Scheunemann, Dietrich. European Avant – Garde: New Perspectives. Rodopi: Netherlands, 1999. Sheldrake, Pauline. “Weaving Worlds: Multimedia Space in Contemporary Theater.” Queensland University of Technology. Read More