Alexandra Hill's 2nd Presentation

Presentation #2: The experience of meaninglessness and relentless change in the aftermath of WWI and its expression in various art movements.

"Dada/Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early twentieth century. It began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916, spreading to Berlin."

"In the wake of World War I, many artists (who referred themselves as Dadaists) were overcome with nihilism: the view that traditional values (including notions of beauty and goodness) and life in general are meaningless and absurd. They expressed this view in the form of meaningless and/or absurd art, such as poems composed of randomly selected words, collages and sculptures made with everyday objects (including junk), and readymades (in which an already-existing object is simply designated as “art”). The rationale behind a “readymade” is that once someone has proclaimed an object to be a work of art, people think about that object in a different way; thus, the proclamation serves as a creative choice that changes the object (in terms of human perception)."

"Many Dadaists believed that the 'reason' and 'logic' of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality. For example, George Grosz later recalled that his Dadaist art was intended as a protest "against this world of mutual destruction."

"According to Hans Richter, Dada was not art, it was "anti-art."Everything for which art stood, Dada represented the opposite. Where art was concerned with traditional aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics. If art was to appeal to sensibilities, Dada was intended to offend. Through their rejection of traditional culture and aesthetics, the Dadaists hoped to destroy traditional culture and aesthetics."
The extentialist sense of authenticity is something that is transformed along with the circumstances. According to Heidegger, authenticity involves revealing the situation in a more originality way. It also concerns developing yourself into something meaningful for your life.

Also, unlike other philosophers such as Hussrerl, Sarte, and Beauvoir, the self and the world are coextensive. Meaning is generated by making sense of the world, by unifying its fragmented elements, requiring creativity. Modifying examples and past experiences alter elements for benefits of future events.
"Heidegger began with a question of the 'primal intention of life', the 'principle of principles' to guide his students. ... This is provocation in a dadaist taste, ... the everyday experience becomes something mysterious and adventurous. Some dadaists, like Heidegger, engaged in the quest for miraculous" (99-100).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada
http://www.essential-humanities.net/western-art/western-painting/modern-painting/#raquo_Postwar_Modern_Painting