International Dadaism Month Begins Today

Today marks the beginning of one of the weirdest holidays you'll ever hear of: International Dadaism Month.

The declaration was made on December 27, 2005 in Lawrence, Kansas by then Mayor Dennis Highberger. In true Dada fashion, International Dadaism Month isn't a specific calendar month but instead a series of dates, chosen at random by rolling dice and pulling numbers out of a hat. This process resulted in the following days of celebration: February 4, March 28, April 1, July 15, August 2, August 7, August 16, August 26, September 18, September 22, October 1, October 17, and October 26.

Think this is absurd? Well, that's part of the point.

Dada was an international cultural movement which peaked from 1916-1922 and embraced chance and nonsense. Seen as a reaction to the horrors of World War I, the anarchic movement rejected artistic conventions. Dada artists sought to provoke and challenge. Although short-lived, Dada has been a hugely influential movement to visual art, writing and performance art.

Share your favorite Dada art below in the comments. Or you could just randomly hit keys on your keyboard. It's all good.

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Hugo Ball reading the poem "Karawane," 1916. Hugo Ball co-founded Cabaret Voltaire, the birthplace of Dada in Zurich in 1916. In this photograph Ball is reciting "Karawane," one of his "sound poems." The entire text of the poem is below. For the record, Ball is German. But don't worry, even if you are fluent in German, it still won't make any sense.

"Karawane" jolifanto bambla ô falli bambla großiga m'pfa habla horem égiga goramen higo bloiko russula huju hollaka hollala anlogo bung blago bung blago bung bosso fataka ü üü ü schampa wulla wussa ólobo hej tatta gôrem eschige zunbada wulubu ssubudu uluwu ssubudu tumba ba-umf kusa gauma ba - umf

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Hugo Ball reading the poem "Karawane," 1916.

Hugo Ball co-founded Cabaret Voltaire, the birthplace of Dada in Zurich in 1916. In this photograph Ball is reciting "Karawane," one of his "sound poems." The entire text of the poem is below. For the record, Ball is German. But don't worry, even if you are fluent in German, it still won't make any sense.

"Karawane"

jolifanto bambla ô falli bambla
großiga m'pfa habla horem
égiga goramen
higo bloiko russula huju
hollaka hollala
anlogo bung
blago bung
blago bung
bosso fataka
ü üü ü
schampa wulla wussa ólobo
hej tatta gôrem
eschige zunbada
wulubu ssubudu uluwu ssubudu
tumba ba-umf
kusa gauma
ba - umf

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Comments

[C Kleinhans]

10:47 AM on 02/10/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ3m72Pg1VU

[t-mas]

03:03 PM on 02/08/2011

Q: How many Dadaists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: albuquerque lunchbox

[americancolonyinhell]

12:27 PM on 03/27/2011

Nice.

[DeMedeiros Luis]

09:38 PM on 02/07/2011

Dada Nada Poem

Today I like
To praise:
Empty hands,
Closed eyes,
Mouth shut,
clogged noses,
&
Open ears

Dada Lives

[GraphicMatt]

10:30 AM on 02/07/2011

Marcel Duchamp was god in my humble opinion.

[mulegino]

06:36 PM on 02/06/2011

Great art/lousy art contretemps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh_TIPyRhxU

[Tom Joad]

12:26 AM on 02/06/2011

Je sais que vous êtes, mais ce que je suis?

[ZenCrusader]

09:30 AM on 02/05/2011

Cafe Voltaire in Zurich has great archival footage of early Dada performances - if you are intrigued by Dada, you will find the CV a treasure trove of rare images and film. VERY cool !

[Katbird]

02:24 PM on 02/08/2011

Thanks for the tip. Too bad this wasn't open when I lived in Zurich back in the 80s. There was just a plaque on a wall in the Niederdorf indicating where the original CV used to be. If I ever get back there I'll check this out.

[Paul Doolan]

03:26 PM on 02/11/2011

To read about the birth od Dada in Zurich check out
http://www.pauldoolan.com/2010/05/dada-is-born-part-one.html

[Travis Korte]

02:54 AM on 02/05/2011

best mindypost of all time.

[ShinjiIkari]

02:53 AM on 02/05/2011

One of my favorite art movements. Magritte's "this is not a pipe" is one of the major expressions of 20th century philosophy. Or just a joke. Or both.

[Peter Frank]

03:25 PM on 02/05/2011

Indeed, but Magritte was not a Dadaist, but a Surrealist -- admittedly, then, Dada's descendent. In cases like this, especially, it can be a distinction without a difference, at least philosophically.

[shthar]

02:47 AM on 02/05/2011

No it doesn't

[there wolf]

02:22 AM on 02/05/2011

The original hipsters - with an actual message.

[MAragon]

09:22 PM on 02/04/2011

They had a really interesting show on DADA that traveled a couple of years ago. Invigorating stuff.

[Peter Frank]

07:22 PM on 02/04/2011

What? No Schwitters? Okay, sure, he was rejected by the Berlin Dada group as "too bourgeois," but he was close pals with Raoul Hausmann, cranked out some of the best collages and sound poems ever, and is recognized as the linchpin of Hannover Dada.

Anyway, happy Dada day. (Coincidentally, this Sunday is Dada's "official" 95th birthday, per Jean Arp, who recalled that, at the moment the movement was named, "I was sporting a brioche in my left nostril".)

[C Kleinhans]

10:55 AM on 02/10/2011

Agreed. The Menil Museum here in Houston just did a huge show of his collages and rebuilt one of the 3 Merzbaus.

[renocrapshooter]

05:16 PM on 02/04/2011

They left out this image:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b3GHoGMBNpY/SwIeZYkpakI/AAAAAAAAEuM/mdMYT3uprbQ/s1600/Michele+Bachmann+For+President+In+2012.jpg

[Paul Farrell]

08:14 PM on 02/04/2011

Yes. LOL.