"What did the first brain to find itself on this planet do? Presumably it was astonished at being here and hadn't a clue what to make of itself and the filthy vehicle beneath its feet. In the meantime people have come to terms with their brains by regarding them as so unimportant as to be not even worth ignoring, by making rastas of themselves (bottommost: blackish pole; uppermost; the president of the senate, say) and by turning the so-unjustly beloved nature into the backdrop for a right farce. Although this doubtless not especially heroic way of avoiding a dilemma that still receives insufficient appreciation has become quite void of any charm now that it is so utterly predictable (how infantile bathroom scales are!), for this self-same reason it is, however, highly suitable for the conducting of certain procedures." - Walter Serner in Last Loosening Manifesto (1916)

"The concept of reality is a highly variable value, and entirely dependent on the brain and the requirements of the brain which considers it." - Richard Hülsenbeck in En Avant Dada (1920)

"After all, what is an art object, in any discipline,
but a beautifully woven system of life-giving lies that burst with potentiality?"
- Olchar E. Lindsann in Cheating Art History:
Strategies on the Fight Against Modernism ( ADa 91 )

"The pressure of occupation and the incessant stream of impressions pouring into our consciousness through all the gateways of knowledge make modern existence hazardous in many ways. Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. The premature death of millions is primarily traceable to this cause." - Nikola Tesla in My Inventions (1919)

"I am not an artist because I refuse to be bored." - David Beris Edwards in BARM ( ADa 92 )

"Every manifestation of our life is accompanied by noise." - Luigi Russolo in L'arte dei rumori ( 1913 )

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

DADA Manifesto

The Cubists want to cover Dada with snow; that may surprise you but it is so, they want to empty the snow from their pipe and cover Dada like a blanket.
Are you sure about that?
Absolutely, the facts spill out from their grotesque mouths.
They think Dada might put a stop to their odious trade:
selling art for vast sums of money.
Art is worth more than sausages, more than women, more than everything.
Art can be seen as clearly as God! (see Saint-Sulpice).
Art is a drug for imbeciles.
The Tables are turning thanks to the spirits: pictures and other words of art are like strong box-tables: the mind is locked inside and becomes more and more fantastic as sale-room prices rise.
Comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy, my dear friends.
Dealers don't like art, they know the mystery of the spirit..........
Buy reproductions of signed works.
Don't be a snob, you are no less intelligent because your neighbour has the same as you.
No more fly shit on the walls.
There will be some in any case, obviously, but not quite so much.
Dada will certainly be increasingly vilified, its wire-cutters enabling it to cut through the processions singing 'Come on Darling'. What sacrilege!!!
Cubism represents the dearth of ideas.
They have cubed primitive art, cubed Negro sculpture, cubed violins, cubed guitars, cubed comics, cubed shit and cubed the profiles of young women. Now they want to cube money!!!
As for Dada it means nothing, nothing, nothing. It makes the public say, 'We understand nothing, nothing, nothing.'
The Dadaists are nothing, nothing, nothing, they will certainly succeed in nothing, nothing, nothing.

Francis PICABIA
who knows nothing, nothing, nothing.

from '391' No. 12 Paris, March 1920
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