DadaZwischenSprachen

Description

Katalin Ladik, Babi Badalov, Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Marietta di Monaco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Hans Arp, Hans Richter, Maria d’Arezzo, Friedrich Glauser, Blaise Cendrars, Lina Lapelytė, Thomas Hirschhorn, Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Ladislav Novák, Ewa Partum, Yello, Talking Heads, among others. "Dada" is a word that does not belong to any specific language. When it was declared the name of the new avant-garde movement in 1916 at the Zurich Cabaret Voltaire, it already served as an example of liberated experimentation in, with, and between different languages. What does "Dada" mean? The answers are as diverse as the numerous language experiments performed from February 5 to early summer 1916 at Spiegelgasse 1 in Zurich's Niederdorf. Phonetic and simultaneous poetry were recited or animal sounds imitated. The propaganda language of World War I was turned upside down, translating experiences of migration, violence, and precariousness into verses with and without words. What was heard? Overlooked, ignored, or read between the lines? What can still be known about it today? In fact, there are no sound or film recordings of the performances at Cabaret Voltaire in 1916. All existing recordings are from later times, some made by the aging Dadaists themselves. The exhibition "DadaZwischenSprachen" shows, through selected exhibits from 1916 and accompanying documents, how Dada language experiments materialized: in prints and reports, in drafts, in scores and sketches, later in manifestos, and in further adaptations or allusions. The exhibition also highlights the gaps in the transmission history of the initial Dada impulses: What happened to the voices of women? What about the borrowed templates from other cultures? It also shows the continuations—often interrupted—that the initial multilingual and interlingual Dada expressions found in later times: far beyond Zurich and up to today. Dada remains active between languages. Continuations and critical developments are found not only in literature but also in performance art, pop culture, social critique, and current debates on the relationship between technology, art, economics, and everyday life. Works from the post-war period to today continue to build on these impulses. An accompanying program will continue the dialogue with the audience. The exhibition and the program are the result of a collaboration between the University of Zurich (Prof. Dr. Sandro Zanetti, Romance Studies, Department of General and Comparative Literature) and Cabaret Voltaire (Salome Hohl), supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF-Agora Project "DadaZwischenSprachen"). Contributors: Prof. Dr. Tomáš Glanc (University of Zurich, Institute for Slavic Studies and Eastern European Studies) and Monica Unser (Cabaret Voltaire).

Highlights

• Exhibition on the Dada movement
• Presentation of phonetic and simultaneous poetry
• Historical exhibits from Cabaret Voltaire

General Information

The "DadaZwischenSprachen" exhibition at Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich explores the diversity of the Dada movement and its language experiments. From February 5 to early summer 1916, innovative performances were presented that addressed migration, violence, and precariousness.

Location

Spiegelgasse 1, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland

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