RoseLee
Goldberg’s chapter three, on performance in Dada, discusses the various groups
that were involved within the movement. First, the author discusses the
beginnings of Dada in Zurich, more specifically a group of artists and writers
that created the Cabaret Voltaire. The goal of the Cabaret Voltaire was to “…create
a center for artistic entertainment. The idea of the cabaret will be that guest
artists will come and give musical performances and readings at the daily
meetings.” (p. 56). Although the Cabaret
Voltaire had only functioned for five months, it seems that the group had a
strong influence on Dadaism and what it would become.
Another significant
group was the Berlin Dadaists, who would give new meaning to the context of
Dadaism. “But Berlin’s literary bohemians had little in common with Zurich’s
pacifist exiles. Less inclined to an art-for-art’s sake attitude, they were
soon to influence Dada towards a political stance that it had not known before”
(p. 67). Although the Berlin Dadaists
were more concerned with politics, it seems that their performances were
similar to those of Zurich’s performers.
Heulsenbeck, one of the significant members involved in the Cabaret
Voltaire, was also involved with the Berlin Dadaists. During Heulsenbeck’s
performance in Berlin, he took on a provocative subject of satirizing the war
and declaring, “…that the last one had not been bloody enough” (p. 67). Like Heulsenbeck, the Berlin Dadaists appeared
to be anti-war and made this an important aspect of their work. Unlike the more
pacifist approach taken by the artists and writers in the Cabaret Voltaire, did
the political and anti-war motivations of the Berlin Dadaists seem more persuasive
and relatable to the everyday public?
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