Random Aesthetics - DADA

One of the things that I really enjoy about DADA is how out there the art movements of the time were. The image used for "DADA: The Art History Archive - Art Movements" page shows how DADA did not fit just a single (if any) art style. In fact, as long as the you made something that tied into what was going on around the world at the time, but in an almost absurd way, it could be considered DADA. This is all seen in the fact that "DADA" was picked at random, a French word meaning "hobbyhorse" (The Art History Archive) and Russian for "yes, yes" (MOMA). 

Due to this, I found it really interesting to look at the differences between "Dada" (July 1917) and "Entretiens" (August 1893). "Entretiens" was published before the DADA movement ever became a blip on anyone's radar, and as such there is a higher focus on the text itself. In fact, in this particular issue there is not a single photo or piece of artwork, and instead reads more like a short novel (even though the texts are from different authors and on different subjects). "Entretiens" was a magazine that was meant to get people to think about the information being presented solely through text. In comparision, the first issue of "Dada" is twenty-two pages long (including the cover pages) with  eight images throughout, an one on the very front cover. The visual artwork of the DADA period held as much importance to what was being discussed as the written or performed artwork. I would also like to point out that even though Wyndham Lewis was making artwork during the Vorticism movement, there are moments when I can see the Vorticism influence on DADA, which makes sense as Vorticism was active during 1914 and 1915. The images on pages five, eleven, and thirteen of "Dada" especially remind me of Vorticism.