Dada in Berlin
Radical Art from 1918

The Dada movement began as a political and artistic reaction to the First World War. The key protagonists in Berlin were Hannah Höch, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, George Grosz and Johannes Baader. Dadaists used their work for radical attacks on German nationalism and militarism.

Dada evolved new forms of artistic expression that also fulfilled a desire to enlighten the public. Provocations and shock tactics – in works and on stage – were designed to make the audience reflect. Collages stuck together from newspaper clippings became Dada’s key medium. They were a vehicle for caustic and ironic commentaries on metaphysical ideologies in the recently founded Weimar Republic.

Dada subverted bourgeois ideas about what art is and how it should be produced. The Dadaists worked collaboratively and accepted random chance as a compositional principle. By including trivial everyday objects in their works they broadened the creative palette. Dada was united by an attitude, not by a style.