Dadaism and Futurism: Radical Shifts in Modern Art

Dadaism: The Anti-Art Movement

Dadaism emerged in Zurich in 1916. Chronologically, it appeared after Futurism.

Dadaism sought to be essentially anti-art and anti-literature. It is an artistic movement that denies art itself, assuming a mocking and defiant attitude towards all established systems.

At that time, the war was seen as a contradictory event to the rationalism upon which social progress was based. Consequently, there were two choices.

One possibility was to consider war as a misstep—a deviation from rational history. The other possibility considered it a false orientation of civilization, viewing war as a result of those scientific and technological processes. In this case, it was necessary to deny all past history and any future projects, returning to square one. This was the position of the Dadaists, as the group proposed to consider everything existing as false and start again.

They believed that chance was vital in artistic creation. Since art ceased to be guided by reason and logic—because these produced irrational results, such as war—chance became the primary driver.

Futurism: Speed and the Modern Age

Futurism is the first official literary vanguard, marked by the publication of the Futurist Manifesto (1909) and a Technical Manifesto (1912).

It was a movement designed to express the demands of the era, such as war and the Industrial Revolution.

They discovered new concepts of beauty. Where the previous basis of beauty was balance, harmony of parts, and elasticity, modern life introduced different foundations: speed, dynamism, contrast, and dissonance.

The Futurists were interested in the movement of the masses and war, as these always provoke destruction, movement, and color. There was also a disdain for women, as they were seen as symbols of tenderness and weakness.

They broke the forms used to express static beauty—namely grammar, syntax, and meter—which no longer served to express a fast, agile, and relentless modern life.

Futurists were advised to use infinitive verbs and nouns alone, discarding adjectives, conjugations, and qualifiers because they presuppose a break. They also utilized mathematical and musical symbols.

They introduced three new elements to literature:

• Noise: The manifestation of the dynamism of objects.
• Weight: The power of flight in objects.
• Smell: The recreational faculty of objects.

For the Futurists, the new concept of beauty is epitomized by the racing car.