Berlin Dada

Abstract

Through a careful examination of existing Berlin dada performance documents, the present essay attempts to refocus attention from the text itself to how the text was presented. Frequently meant to be read aloud, the performatory nature of these texts provided a power and impact impossible to achieve by the text designed for reading. Direct verbal assaults intended to confront live audiences, the public’s reaction was understandably hostile and negative. A radical revolt against the entire period, committed to change in society through a change in man, the mode of these text performances do, nevertheless, throw doubt on the common assertion that Berlin dada was heavily political. Although insisting in their aggression and audibility on being heard, their unqualified "no" to German culture is rarely followed by a plan for constructive action. The text, centered in events, seeks neither political reform nor advocacy of a coherent dada platform, but "…an image which was capable of driving one not necessarily into the arms of the dadaists, but into solitude where one could find at least one human being: himself. And nothing else."