DADA the Super-Contemporary

On April 16, 125 of years after the birth of aesthetic innovator and artistic provocateur Tristan Tzara, the Romanian-born creator of the DADA movement, we highlight the still effervescent influence of the famous artist on modern art through a video-performance by Romanian visual artist Mihai Zgondoiu, entitled “Tzara, Tzara, We Want DADA”, purposedly created for this anniversary.

“Art is not the most precious manifestation of life. Art has not the celestial and universal value that people like to attribute to it. Life is far more interesting. Dada knows the correct measure that should be given to art: with subtle, perfidious methods, Dada introduces it into daily life.” - Tristan Tzara 

Born in Romania as Samuel Rosenstock, poet, essayist, playwright, literary critic, performer, director and composer Tristan Tzara (1896 - 1963) is the founder of  DADA (from da, meaning ‘yes’ in Romanian), an influential avantgarde movement launched at the beginning of the 20th century, and one of the most famous literary figures of his time.

As proof that some of the DADA innovations are still potent, Mihai Zgondoiu’s video coagulates all the elements associated with the movement - “cut-ups”, juxtaposition, collages, disruptive performance, anti-art movement, surrealism – to create absurd situations which emphasize the freshness and poignancy of this artistic approach. Created from a playfulness angle, the work’s title re-phrases a Romanian children’s game with its repetitive, euphonic call “Country, country we want soldiers”, while alluding to the meaning of Tzara’s name in Romanian, which means ‘country’.

Don’t miss the premiere on our Facebook, IGTV and YouTube on April 16 at 2 p.m. New York & Toronto time / 11 a.m. Los Angeles & Vancouver time / 9 p.m. Bucharest time. Watch also on our website and other social media accounts anytime later.