Dada Graphic Design Movement

Dada

The Dada movement began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916 during the first World War. Because of the war a lot European artists fled to Switzerland since it was neutral, and in response these artists formed the Dada movement. The concept of Dada was mainly to condemn the war and show how terrible it was, but from what I’ve read, the movement also questioned what art was. Collage was a big medium in the movement, but there were also more inventive ways that the Dada artists made art with. Marcel Duchamp’s famous Dada piece was a urinal that he titled “fountain.” So, much of what was created during this time involved a lot of experimentation and pushing what art was. It seems to me that this was very much the beginning of modern art and contributed a lot to what graphic design has become. The collages and graphics made by the Dada artists were not just visually interesting, but also had a message about the war and about how people are and think. That is very similar to the definition of graphic design we made in class, and is also something not as prevalent in the art movements before it. The Dada movement was one of the first artistic movements meant to revolt against society as a whole instead of revolting against what art looked like or meant. And I think it also showed how much freedom someone has when creating art as many of the pieces from that time were extremely unorthodox and were made with tons of different mediums.

The Dada movement also led to other art movements such as surrealism, constructivism, and pretty much any abstract movement after it. And after its popularity faded in Zurich, New York actually became a hotspot for Dadaism and a lot of the literature and art from that time period in New York were heavily influenced by the Dada movement.