What is the relevance of Dada and its artistic strategies in our current moment, one marked by post-truth politics, information floods and big data? How can contemporary art highlight the neglected nuances of cultural representation in...
moreWhat is the relevance of Dada and its artistic strategies in our current moment, one marked by post-truth politics, information floods and big data? How can contemporary art highlight the neglected nuances of cultural representation in the present day? While it may feel like we are living in a period of anomaly with the rise of the alt-right, this book shows how the Dada movement's artistic response to the aggressive nationalism and fascism of its time offers a fruitful analogy to our contemporary era.
Dada's counter-cultural strategies, such as the distortion of reality and attacks on elites and rationality, have long been endorsed by artistic avantgardes and subcultures. Dada Data details how modern-day movements have appropriated such tactics in their ways of addressing the public both on- and offline. Bringing together contributions from interdisciplinary scholars, curators and artists working in global contexts that explore an array of artistic modes of persuasion and resistance, the book demonstrates how contemporary art can bring out neglected nuances of our post-truth moment. In linking the Dada movement's counter-cultural activities to modern phenomena such as post-internet art, information floods and big data mining, the book collates original propaganda with diverse artwork from such figures as Hannah Höch, Donna Kukama, Paula Rego, Tschabalala Self, Sheida Soleimani and South African artists Donna Kukama and Kemang Wa Lehulere. In doing so, Dada Data brings together a rich scrapbook of Dada resources and perspectives that are highly relevant to present-day political concerns.
With artistic contributions by IOCOSE, Donna Kukama, Kemang Wa Lehulere and Montage Mädels.
Table of Contents
Introduction: From Dada Tricks to Post-Truth Politics, Mara-Johanna Kölmel (Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany & The Courtauld Institute of Art, UK) and Sarah Hegenbart (Technical University Munich, Germany)
1. FROM DADA TO DATA
1.1. From From Dada to Data, Mara-Johanna Kölmel (Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany & The Courtauld Institute of Art, UK)
1.2. Sheida Soleimani, Cyborg: Photomontage in an Expanding Network, Matthew Biro (Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan, USA)
1.3. Parafictions and Immateriality: The Legacy of the Berlin Dada Media Hoaxes in Contemporary Parafictive Acts, Rebecca Smith (Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University, UK)
2. GLOBAL DADA
2.1. Drones Vs. Kites, Joshua Simon (Independent Curator, Writer and Filmmaker)
2.2. Paula Rego: A Dada Attitude against Authority in the Post-War Period, Leonor de Oliveira (Universidad Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
2.3. Dada's African South, Roger van Wyk (Independent Curator and Director of Educentric)
3. BIG DADA DATA
3.1. Clouds, Critique & Contradiction: Performing Dissent in Dada and Data Art, Meredith Hoy (Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, USA)
3.2. Identity, Ecology, and the Arts in the Age of Big Data Mining, Roberto Simanowski (University of Basel, Switzerland)
3.3. Precarious Data Aesthetics. An Exploration of Tactics, Tricksters and Idiocy in Data, Annet Dekker (Independent Researcher, Writer and Curator)
3.4. Big Dada, Big Data: Schwitters' Merzbau as a Data Cloud, Natalie Koerner (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark)
4. DADA x ALT-RIGHT. FAKING THE TRUTH
4.1. Art as Propaganda: The Alt-Right's "Appropriation" of Dada's Fragmented Truth, Sarah Hegenbart (Technical University Munich, Germany)
4.2. Fashwave: The Alt-Right's Aestheticization of Politics and Violence, Maik Fielitz (Institute for Peace Studies and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, Germany) and Lisa Bogerts (Independent Researcher, Germany)
4.3. Post-Internet Art and the Alt-Right Visual Culture, Vid Simoniti (University of Liverpool, UK)
5. DADA DATA TACTICS
5.1. Down the Rabbit Hole of The Alt-Right Complex: Artists Exploring Far Right Online Culture, Inke Arns (Curator and Artistic Director, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Germany)
5.2. Pixel Pirates: Theft as Strategy in the Art of Joan Ross and Soda_Jerk, Jaime Tsai (National Art School, Sydney, Australia)
5.3. The Multiple Narratives of Post-Truth Politics, Told through Picture, Jack Southern (University of Gloucestershire, City and Guilds of London Art School, UK)
Index