Anti-Art

Anti-art is a loosely used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Somewhat paradoxically, anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage point of art. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-art)

Dada

The Dada movement was the first Anti-Art movement. It was triggered by the 1st World War in 1914, as a reaction to the atrocities of the war. It started in the neutral country of Switzerland, where political radicals, dissidents and avant garde artists and writers sought refuge. Hugo Ball and Emmy Hemmings begun a club called Cabaret Voltaire in 1916, it was the start of the movement that spread internationally to Paris, Cologne, Hannover, Berlin and New York. The war acted as a catalyst of population movement by people fleeing the war. 

Dada artists used techniques such as collage, photomontage, assemblage and frottage. Some of the most influential artists are Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Hoch, Kurt Schwitters and Raoul Hausmann. Below I have included some images by these artists as well as my notes on the subject.

Marcel Duchamp 

Hannah Hoch

Kurt Schwitters

Raoul Hausmann

 

 

 

Dadaism went on to influence other art movements including Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism.