what is dada art

Dada art is an artistic movement that emerged in the early 20th century, predating surrealism and with its roots in a number of major European artistic capitals. The movement was formed during World War I in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. Dada artists aimed to destroy traditional values in art and to create a new art to replace the old. Their art was focused on performance and printed matter, and they often utilized everyday objects that could be bought and presented as art with little manipulation by the artist, known as readymades. Dadaism mocked and antagonized the conventions of art itself, emphasizing the illogical, irrational, and absurd. The movement was anti-war, anti-bourgeois, and had political affinities with the radical left. Dada artists expressed themselves through visual, literary, and sound media, including collage, sound poetry, cut-up writing, and sculpture. The movement dissipated with the establishment of Surrealism, but the ideas it gave rise to have become the cornerstones of various categories of modern and contemporary art.