In Dada South? curators Roger van Wyk and Kathryn Smith consider the legacy of socially critical and experimental South African art in relation to the influence of Dada. Many people are familiar with South African ‘resistance art’, produced in the late 1970s to early 1990s, which deals with political subject matter in a direct way. Dada South? is a chance to broaden this view to include art which criticises and mocks any political and social forms and institutions. It is also an occasion to reconsider the influence of non-western cultures on Dada activities.
Dada was started by refugees and renegade artists in Zürich, Switzerland, during World War One. Their provocative activities were a reaction to the horror of the war, and the social and political systems that were responsible for its unnecessary carnage. In their attempts to break free from western European logic and aesthetic traditions, including the idea of the artist as genius, Dada artists embraced chaos and chance as part of their artistic strategy. They experimented with poetry, craft and ritual performance, and were influenced by the cultural practices and art of Africa and North America. Dada has left a lasting legacy in contemporary art practice, particularly the experimental art movements of the 1960s and 1970s. This is when Dada ideas began to influence South African artists.The diverse legacy of Dada may be traced in the production of a range of South African artists: from 1970s works by Walter Battiss, Wopko Jensma, and Kevin Atkinson; to 1980s works by Lucas Seage, Neil Goedhals and Jane Alexander; followed by the transition to democracy period with works of Kendell Geers and Candice Breitz, among others; and the many contemporary artistic positions by the likes of artists such as Robin Rhode, Moshekwa Langa, Nicholas Hlobo, Christain Nerf and Donna Kukama. The tendency for loose collective collaborations that was prominent in the 1980s with initiatives like Possession Arts has again resurfaced in collective groups such as Gugulective and Avant Car Guard, all of which carry a trace of Dada.
This is a unique opportunity to view South African works that carry the Dada influence together with a selection of original Dada artworks and publications from prominent European collections in South Africa for the first time. The exhibition includes a rare collection of original collages by the prominent female Dada artist, Hannah Höch, dating from 1918 to the 1960s. Other Dada artists represented include: Marcel Janco, Sophie Täuber-Arp, Hans Arp, Hans Richter, George Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray.
International loans come from collections including:
The Institute For Foreign Cultural Relations, Stuttgart; Berlin Gallery, Landes Museum Berlin; John Heartfield Archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin; Goethe-Institut Collection, Munich; Kunsthaus Zürich; Bellerive Museum, Zürich Museum of Design; Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne collections, Paris; De Stijl Archives, Netherlands Institute for Art History, Den Haag
Dada South? is made possible through a partnership with the Goethe-Institut and the support of the National Arts Council of South Africa, Pro Helvetia, Mondriaan Foundation, Culturesfrance and others.
For more information contact Andrea Lewis:
alewis@iziko.org.za; 0836804038 (sms
only) Or Nadja Daehnke:
ndaehnke@iziko.org.za, 021 4674673, 0823165272.
