Decorating Dissidence:
Take Dada Seriously (it’s worth it?)
ONLINE EXHIBITION
01 JUNE 2020 - 05 JULY 2020
Decorating Dissidence presents ‘TAKE DADA SERIOUSLY! (it’s worth it?)‘ – a month long digital project that explores the legacy of dada to question its relevance today as part of a digital residency at Guest Projects | The Yinka Shonibare Foundation in June 2020.
In 1920, the International Dada Fair shocked Berlin. The era’s most radical, experimental artists showcased shockingly confrontational works that lampooned the establishment and ripped up the rules of conventional art. The collage and photomontage work on display reflected a broken society that had been shattered by violent conflict and rampant capitalism.
It’s worth it?
Yet, there is much to critique in Dada’s approaches too. Not least the appropriation of African and indigenous art, lack of gender parity and approaches to sexuality. We use this platform as a way to challenge art history and open up a global perspective on the movement. We aim to reclaim avant-garde techniques that can recharge us politically today, whilst being mindful of its failures.
Having to pivot to an online exhibition format, due to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, this project explored what Dada can mean today – should we take Dada seriously? And how can we challenge its legacies? We worked with four artists to set up a series of workshops and commissioned new performances as well as hosting artists, makers, academics and writers in a series of themed salons. Our resources page further sought to share the platform with people who had something to say about Dada.
THE ARTISTS
Salons & Workshops
A salon is a space for sharing art, poetry, ideas, conversation. Throughout our month residency, we hosted three digital salons that brought together artists, curators, writers and the public to discuss different themes and legacies of dada.
A collaboration between Decorating Dissidence X Media Arts Technology (QMUL), which utilised technology and multimedia as a means to understand the complexities of contemporary society in the post-internet age.
A collaboration between Decorating Dissidence X Lucy Writers Platform exploring ways of writing about and writing through the women of Dada.
Inspired by ideas raised by Adam Pendelton’s Black Dada Reader, we deconstructed the archive to force a confrontation with the gaps and contradictions of dada.
RESOURCES
We developed a series of resources to share more about Dada and beyond.
Spotlight on Adam Pendleton’s Black Dada Reader
The Greatest Dada Project That Never Happened: Dadaglobe x MoMA Teens
The project was supported by Guest Projects Digital, QMUL Centre for Public Engagement and the Association for Art History.
About Decorating Dissidence:
Decorating Dissidence is an interdisciplinary project exploring the political, aesthetic and conceptual qualities of feminine-coded arts from modernism to the contemporary. It brings together art practitioners, makers, curators, activists and academics to break down disciplinary boundaries and find new ways to critically engage with feminist art history. It opens up a space for intergenerational dialogue between contemporary and modernist makers, in order to reveal the lasting legacies of marginalised women artists who worked at the dissident intersections between established mediums and modes of modern art.
Curators: Jade French, Suzanna Petot, Lottie Whalen
