Going Gaga with Dada and Zine Fest

Overview

It is not easy to reference, much less celebrate, the work of Dada artists. By its very nature the Dadaist art movement self-destructs at the mere hint of mainstream acceptance.  And yet here is Going Gaga for Dada – a dedication to the Dadaist chaos, nonsense and whimsy – so compelling and so deliciously relevant, it reminds the viewer that there is still plenty to be protesting about.

Dada, the artistic and literary manifesto of nonsense, originated in Europe during World War I as a protest against the atrocities the war was bringing to the artists’ front doors.  Out of disgust for a seemingly senseless war, the likes of Duchamp and Tzara created works intended to be provocatively absurd, as a metaphorical thumbing of the nose, if you like.

Here, curator and Dada scholar Akky van Ogtrop seeks to, like the Dadaists, define the undefinable, with contemporary mixed media such as collages, books, zines, posters and sculpture.  And while the Dadaist references in colour, composition and typography are frank and fierce, this exhibition still feels fresh, germane and utterly evocative.

Here, the iconic, horrifying iron of Dada is manifested (Richard Tipping, the Gift) and is joined by an ironing board (Dianne Beevers, Bristling) as absurdly inoperable at the iron itself.  Dianne Longley’s ceramics are wicked: the placement of Tim Burton-like baddies on the domesticity of plates is nightmareishly good.  A giggle at the Chicken Tank (Will Coles) will lead your mind to questions of power in politics, and the anxiety of Rochelle Summerfield’s tumultuous cityscapes will evoke the words of Dadaist Hugo Ball who lamented that “words emerge, shoulders of words, legs, arms – Dada is the heart of words.”

In support of the exhibition, there will be a zine fest at Brenda May on Saturday August 31 and Sunday September 1, with a talk by MCA curator Glenn Barkley. Image: Bristling by Dianne Beevers.