Dadaism

This episode of In Our Time: Culture explores the origins, evolution, and lasting legacy of Dadaism, a radical artistic and cultural movement that emerged in Zurich during World War I as a response to the horrors of war and the collapse of rationality. Host Misha Glenny is joined by scholars Dawn Addis, Ruth Hemus, and Stephen Forcer, who trace Dada's beginnings at the Cabaret Voltaire, where Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings led performances of nonsensical poetry and provocative art. The movement quickly spread to Berlin, Paris, Cologne, and beyond, adapting to local political and cultural contexts—most notably becoming a politically charged force in Berlin through photomontage and satire. The discussion highlights Dada's core principles: anti-art, anti-establishment, absurdity as critique, and the rejection of fixed meaning. Key figures like Tristan Tzara, Marcel Duchamp, and Hannah Höch are examined, as are techniques such as sound poetry, collage, and multilingual performance. The episode also reflects on Dada's enduring influence on surrealism, punk, digital art, and contemporary protest movements like Pussy Riot, emphasizing its spirit of rebellion, playfulness, and democratic access to creativity. Despite its lack of formal cohesion, Dada remains a powerful cultural force precisely because it resists definition and invites participation. The episode concludes with a reflective bonus segment where the hosts ponder why Dada never fully took root in London or Vienna, suggesting that cultural context, trauma, and institutional resistance played a role. They also explore the paradox of Dada’s anti-political stance coexisting with profound political impact, and the surprising presence of Romanian artists within the movement, many of whom were Jewish and navigating displacement. The conversation underscores Dada’s legacy not as a defined movement but as a persistent attitude—a refusal to take things seriously, a celebration of chaos, and a call to question authority, language, and the very nature of art. The episode ends with a meta-commentary on authenticity and fakery, mirroring Dada’s own subversive spirit.