The Dada Manifesto (French: ) is a short text written by

Hugo Ball Hugo Ball (; 22 February 1886 – 14 September 1927) was a German author, poet, and essentially the founder of the Dada movement in European art in Zürich in 1916. Among other accomplishments, he was a pioneer in the development of sound poetry. ...

detailing the ideals underlying the

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ist movement. It was presented at Zur Waag guildhall in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

at the first public Dada gathering on July 14, 1916. The choice of this date,

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

, was important to Ball as it carried significance as a protest to World War I. In this

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

, Ball begins by giving diverse definitions of the word "Dada" in multiple languages. He continues to introduce the movement's own definition of "Dada" by boldly asserting that "Dada is the heart of words." Ball concludes his manifesto with a linguistic explosion that alternates between coherence and absurdity. After writing his manifesto Ball stayed active in the Dada movement for another six months, but the manifesto created conflict with his fellow Dada artists, most notably

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, c ...

. On March 23, 1918, Tzara wrote and published another, longer, . This manifesto was angrier and more nonsensical in tone. Tzara counters Ball's earlier manifesto and states that all definitions of "Dada" were to be dismissed immediately. Tzara's was used in the prologue and in the segment about Dadaism of the 2015 film ''

Manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

''.

References

External links

"Tristan Tzara: Dada Manifesto 1918"
by Charles Cramer and Kim Grant,

Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by Sal Khan. Its goal is to create a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short video lessons. Its website also includes suppl ...

{{Portal, Literature Dada Art manifestos 1916 documents 1918 documents Works by Hugo Ball