Dada Cinema (1921-1926)
DVD5 | Run time: ~75 min | MPEG2 720x576 PAL 4:3 ~7836 kbps avg | 4.25 GB
audio: neutral | Dolby AC3 2 ch ~192 Kbps
Directors: Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Man Ray, Ferdinand Leger, Rene Clair, Francis Picabia, Dudley Murphy
Art-house, Animation, Short, Music, Surrealism
Dada was an art movement that sprang up in Zurich Switzerland roughly around 1916. It emerged largely in response to the atrocities and insanity of World War 1, and sought to find and experiment with new forms of expression in an attempt to rejuvenate the creative act. After the end of the war in 1918, Dada spread to Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Hanover), where it was to rebel against the increasingly militaristic and nationalistic policies of the emerging far right as typified by the eventual rise to power of Hitler's Nazi party. Dada was important in an Art historical context in that it paved the way and laid the foundations for surrealism which was to follow. Many of the artists active in dada later becoming influential and active within surrealism. Although Dada groups existed in several forms for longer and shorter periods in other areas such in Paris, Italy, the Netherlands and New York. It's spiritual and historical home has always been in Zurich (Switzerland), with a special mention going to post world war 1 Germany. It is for this reason that this website will largely concentrate on these two areas of the Dada movement.