Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Explaining DaDa?

In a brief moment of inspiration, or possibly foolishness, I devised a theory of linking DaDa so intrinsically with everything that is IDENTITY. I have been particularly struck by reading some of the Manifesto of the Communist Party. As a result i want to try and converge what seem to be two fairly juxtaposing directions of thought. Firstly, the stark realization of the human condition (as i have previously discussed with the example of Hugo Ball and want to continue with examples of other influential figures such as T.S.Eliot) from which DaDa was born and secondly, the idea of "freedom" which DaDa comes to represent. In the Communist Manifesto, it states, in relation to traditions of the past, "all that is solid melts into air, all that is Holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind." It rings true with Eliot's portrayal of the city in The Wasteland, which i will discuss in more detail at a later date, but particularly striking is the links to what are know as the "Imagists". Again, they represent all that is essentially real. In fact, to use the word "represent" would to go against all Imagist thinking. They write an image. They write the real. But what is so vital to DaDa is that they also have a profound awareness of circumspection. Like a microcosm and a macrocosm all in one. An example would be Ezra Pound's poem, "Fan-piece, for her Imperial Lord": "O fan of white silk,/ clear as frost on the grass-blade,/ You also are laid aside." I would like to take some time in another post to discuss the Imagists in more detail. But at this point (excuse the rather fast pace) can not help link back to the idea of the eye. And i don't mean the Id or the "I" - which would also pose an interesting topic, but the human eye:


And now we can see DaDa as less isolated than perhaps first thought, and like the eye, and like identity, as part of a whole. If i were to now tell you that yesterday's "DaDa" image was in fact part of a bigger picture, then maybe this goes part of the way to further explaining DaDa, or maybe not.....that's for you to decide

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