~~Art

An
Edited
screeching
Anthology
~ Blackwell
byinCharles
phonograph
Theory
ofChanging
"1.1
Harrison
1900-2000
Publishing
record;
Ideas
andto
Paul
respect
Wood all individuals in their folly of the m
oment: whether it be serious, fearful, timid, ardent, vigorous, determined, enth
usiastic; to divest one's church of every useless cumbersome accessory; to spit
out disagreeable or amorous ideas like a luminous waterfall, or coddle them -- w
ith the extreme satisfaction that it doesn't matter in the least - with the same
intensity in the thicket of one's soul- pure of insects for blood well-born, an
d gilded with bodies of archangels. Freedom: Dada Dada Dada, a roaring of tense
colors, and interlacing of opposites and of all contradictions, grotesques, inco
4 Richard Huelsenbeck (1892-1974) 'First German Dada Manifesto' ('Collective Dad
LIFE
nsistencies:
a Manifesto')
Having
been active in Zurich Dada, Huelsenbeck returned to Germany in January 19
17. Berlin Dada became the most explicitly political part of the movement, assoc
iated with German Bolshevism. This first manifesto nevertheless remains largely
oriented to artistic struggles, simultaneously mounting an attack on the failure
of Expressionism, and allying Dada with 'the new medium', viz. collage and mont
age. It was delivered at the I. B. Neumann gallery in Berlin in February 1918, a
nd originally published in Der Zweemann, Hanover, c.l919; reprinted in Huelsenbe
ck (ed.), Dada Almanach, Berlin, 1920. It was then reissued in 1920 as 'Collecti
ve Dada Manifesto' signed by: Huelsenbeck, Tristan Tzara, Franz Jung, George Gro
sz, Marcel Janco, Raoul Hausmann, Hugo Ball, Pierre Albert-Birot, Hans Arp et al
. The present translation by Ralph Mannheim is taken from Motherwell, op. cit.,
pp. in
Art
242-6.
its execution and direction is dependent on the time in which it lives, a
nd artists are creatures of their epoch. The highest art will be that which in i
ts conscious content presents the thousandfold problems of the day, the art whic
h has been visibly shattered by the explosions of last week, which is forever tr
ying to collect its limbs after yesterday's crash. The best and most extraordina
ry artists will be those who every hour snatch the tatters of their bodies out o
f the frenzied cataract of life, who, with bleeding hands and hearts, hold fast
to the intelligence of their time. Has expressionism fulfilled our expectations
of such
No!
Have
No!
theNo!
anexpressionists
art, which should
fulfilled
be anour
expression
expectations
of ourofmost
an art
vital
thatconcerns?
burns the esse
nce No!
No!
Under
ofthe
life
No!pretext
into our
of turning
flesh? inward, the expressionists in literature and painti
ng have banded together into a generation which is already looking forward to ho
norable mention in the histories of literature and art and aspiring to the most
respectable civic distinctions. On pretext of carrying on propaganda for the sou
l, they have, in their strug-gle with naturalism, {c)lInd their way back to the
abstract,
IIiB
258
presuppose
Dissent
Rationalization
pathetic
a comfortable
and Disorder
gestures
andlife
257
Transformation
which
free from content or strife. The stages are fillin
g up with kings, poets and Faustian characters of all sorts; the theory of a mel
ioristic philosophy, the psychological mtivete of which is highly significant fo
r a critical understanding of expressionism, runs ghostlike through the minds of
men who never act. Hatred of the press, hatred of advertising, hatred of sensat
ions are typical of people who prefer their armchair to the noise of the street,
and who even make it a point of pride to be swindled by every smalltime profite
er. That sentimental resistance to the times, which are neither better nor worse
, neither more reactionary nor more revolutionary than other times, that weak-kn
eed resistance, flirting with prayers and incense when it does not prefer to loa
d its cardboard cannon with Attic iambics - is the quality of a youth which neve
r knew
to
style,
howtransformed
to be young.into
Expressionism,
an opulent idyll
discovered
and theabroad,
expectation
and inofGermany,
a good pensio
true
n, has nothing in common with the efforts of active men. The signers of this man
ifestoI!!!
Dada!
gathered
have,
together
undertotheputbattle
forward
cry:a new art, from which they expect the realizati
on ofword
The
newDada
ideals.
symbolizes
What then
theismost
DADAISM?
primitive relation to the reality of the envir
on- ment; with Dadaism a new reality comes into its own. Life appears as a simul
taneous muddle of noises, colors and spiritual rhythms, which is taken unmodifie
d into Dadaist art, with all the sensational screams and fevers of its reckless
everyday psyche and with all its brutal reality. This is the sharp dividing line
directions
separatingupDadaism
until now
fromand
allparticularly
artistic
from FUTURISM which not long ago some p
uddingheads took to be a new version of impressionist realization. Dadaism for t
he first time has ceased to take an aesthetic attitude toward life, and this it
accomplishes by tearing all the slogans of ethics, culture and inwardness, which
The
represents
areB1'uitist
merelyacloaks
streetcar
poem for as
weakitmuscles,
is, the essence
into their
of the
components.
streetcar with the yawning o
f Schulze
The
teaches
Simultaneist
a sense
the coupon
ofpoem
theclipper
me1'l'ygoround
and the screeching
of all things;
of thewhile
brakes.
Herr Schulze reads hi
s paper, the Balkan Express crosses the bridge at Nish, a pig squeals in Butcher

makes
The
Nuttke's
Static
wordscellar.
poem
into individuals, out of the letters spelling woods, steps the woods
with its treetops, liveried foresters and wild sows, maybe a hoarding house ste
ps out too, and m,lybe it's called Bellevue or Bella Vista. Dadaism leads to ama
zing new possibilities and forms of expression in all the arts. It made cubism a
dance on the stage, it disseminated the BRUITIST music of the futurists (whose
purely
has
no desire
Italiantoconcerns
generalize)
it in every country in Europe. The word Dada in itself
indicates the internationalism of the movement which is bound to no frontiers,
reli- gions or professions. Dada is the international expression of our times, t
he great rebellion of artistic movements, the artistic reflex of all these offen
sives, peace con- gresses, riots in the vegetable market, midnight suppers at th
e Esplanade,
nell)
Dada
ismedium
a CLUB,
etc.,
in
painting.
founded
etc. in
DadaBerlin,
champions
whichtheyouusecanofjoin
the without commitments. In th
is club every man is chairman and every man can have his say in artistic matters
. Dada is not a pretext for the ambition of a few literary men (as our enemies w
ould have you believe), Dada is a state of mind that can be revealed in any conv
ersation whatever, so that you are compelled to say: this man is a DADAIST - tha
t man is not; the Dada Club consequently has members all over the world, in Hono
lulu as well as New Orleans and Meseritz. Under certain circumstances to be a Da
daist may mean to be more a businessman, more a political partisan than an artis
t - to be an artist only by accident - to be a Dadaist means to let oneself be t
hrown by things, to oppose all sedimentation; to sit in a chair for a single mom
ent is to risk one's life (Mr Wengs pulled his revolver out of his pants pocket)
. A fabric tears under your hand, you say yes to a life that strives upward by n
egation. Affirmation - negation: the gigantic hocuspocus of existence fires the
nerves of the true Dadaist - and there he is, reclining, hunting, cycling - half
Pantagruel, half St Francis, laughing and laughing. Blast the aesthetic-ethical
attitude! Blast the bloodless abstraction of expressionism! Blast the literary
hollowheads
their
theories
andfor improving the world! For Dadaism in word and image, for all t
he Dada things that go on in the world! To be against this manifesto is to be a
5 Richard Huelsenbeck (1892-1974) and Raoul Hausmann (1886-1971) 'What is Dadais
Dadaist!
m andFirst
The
whatGerman
does itDada
wantManifesto
in Germany?'
emphasized 'movement' and 'struggle'. The remain
ing requirement for a 'program of action' was fulfilled by the present manifesto
. Its utopian character is evident. Some erstwhile Dadaists such as Grosz and He
artfield rapidly took the more practical step of joining the German Communist Pa
rty (KPD) at its foundation in January 1919. The manifesto appeared in Der Dada,
no. 1, 1919, where it was co-signed by Jefim Golyscheff, and was reprinted in H
uelsenbeck's En Avant Dada, Hanover, 1920. The present translation by Ralph Mann
1heim
1)
Dadaism
Theisinternational
from
demands:
Motherwell,
revolutionary
op. cit., union
pp. 41-2.
of all creative and intellectual men an
d women
2)
The introduction
on the basisofofprogressive
radical Communism;
unemployment through comprehensive mechan- iz
ation of every field of activity. Only by unemployment does it become possible f
or the individual to achieve certainty as to the truth of life and finally becom
e accustomed
3)
The immediate
to experience;
expropriation of property (socialization) and the communal fced
- ing of all; further, the erection of cities of light, and gardens which will b
elong
IIIB
Rationalization
260
a)
Daily
b)Dissent
to society
c)
meals
atandpublic
and
as Transformation
Disorder
a expense
whole259,mdforprepare
all creative
man forand
a state
intellectual
of freedom.
men and women on
d)
The
theimmediate
Potsdamererection
Platz (Berlin);
ofastate art center, elimination ofconcepts ofpropertyin
the new art (expressionism); the concept of property is entirely excluded from t
he super-individual movement of Dadaism which liberates all mankind; Introductio
n oft)the simultaneist
e)
Requisition
of churchespoem
forasthea performance
Communist state
of bruitism,
prayer; simultaneist and Dadais
t poems;
Establishment
of a Dadaist advisory council for the remodelling of life in evcry
g)
Immediate
h)city
i) of over
organization
50,000 inhabitants;
of a large scale Dadaist propaganda campaign with 150 cir
cuses for the
Submission
of all
enlightenment
laws and decrees
of the to
proletariat;
the Dadaist central council for approval;
Immediate regulation of all sexual relations according to the views of internati
onal
2j)
Compulsory
6Richard
TheDadaism
Central
Huelsenbeck
adherence
through
Council(1892-1974)
establishment
of
demands:
all clergymen
fromofEnand
a Avant
Dadaist
teachers
Dada
sexual
to the
center.
Dadaist articles of fa
The most brutal struggle against all directions of so-called 'workers of the spi
ith;
rit' (Hiller, Adler), against their concealed bourgeoisism, against expressionis
m andDadaist
The
post-classical
revolutionary
education
central
as council.
advocatedGerman
by thegroup:
Sturm Hausmann,
group;
Huelsenbeck B
usiness Office: Charlottenburg, Kantstrasse 118. Applications for membership tak
en at business
Huelsenbeck
wrote
office.
a major article surveying the history of the Dada movement fro
m its inception in Zurich to its virtual dissolution by 1920. The closing passag
es, reprinted here, repeat the alignment of Dada to Bolshevism while reserving t
o it a wider programme than mere economic amelioration. The article is also susp

icious of the widespread ethos of (re-) construction, and maintains a hostile at

titUde to both German and French national traditions in culture. Originally publ
ished as EnAvant Dada: fine Geschichte des Dadaismu5, Hanover, 1920. This extrac
t is taken from the translation by Ralph Mannheim in Motherwell, op. cit., pp.42
[. .JIn an article on expressionism Kornfeld makes the distinction between the ethic
-5.
al man and the psychological man. The ethical man has the child-like piety and f
aith which permit him to kneel at some altar and recognize some God, who has the
power to lead men hom their misery to some paradise. The psychological man has
journeyed vainly through the infinite, has recognized the limits of his spiritua
l possibilities, he knows that every 'system' is a seduction with all the conseq
uencesGod
every
Introductions,
of an
seduction
opportunity
selection
and forand
financiers.
editorial matter 1992, 2003 by Charles Harrison and Paul
350
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550
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and publisher.
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Act published
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1992the
by Blackwell
prior
Publishing Ltd First p
ublished
New
edition
in (Art
USA 1993
in Theory 1900-2000) first published 2003 Reprinted 2003 (twice
)Library
Art
in theory,
ofCo'lgress
1900-2000:
Cataloging-in-Publication
an anthology of changing
Data ideas / edited by Charles Har
rison
p.
Rev.
em.ed.
andof:
PaulArtWood.
in theory,
-- 2nd 1900-1990,
ed.
1993. Includes bibliographical references
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