Dada was an unofficial, but international movement, which mostly had participants in Europe and North America. The start of this movement coincides with the start of the First World War. The participants of the war went against the beliefs and life of the interests of the bourgeois, nationalists and colonialists of the time, claiming they were responsible for the outbreak of war.
Dadaists rejected the ideology of logic and control, which they expressed in their artistic styles. They embraced chaos and irrationality and accepted it as their beliefs and ideals. Dada also represented the opposite of what art was. Art stood for and concerned traditional aesthetics, Dadaism ignored these aesthetics. This meant that is art was made to appease and be appealing, the Dadaism was designed to be offensive and harsh. George Grosz quotes that his Dadaist art was designed to be a protest against a world causing mutual destruction. The primary methods of Dadaist art include visual, literature, poetry, theory, graphic design, theater and others.
There are theories that state that the Dada originated in the Cabaret Voltaire on 6th October. There are more sources that state it originated out of a literary salon in Zurich, others go against this claim and say that it was already a vibrant tradition in Eastern Europe, particularly Romania. Before the First World War, the style of art had already risen but it was the Zurich artists like Tzara and Janco, which proved to be the igniting factors of this artistic movement. Artists moved from Germany and Romania during the Great War and artists started settling in Switzerland. Because this was considered a neutral ground, artists decided to use this as a way to fight against the cultural, political and social ideals of that time.
Dadaism was a literary movement which was basically following the concept of anti-art. It is based on chaos, irrationality, absurdity and impulses. It used methods and materials which are ‘unnatural’ to the conventional art world. The origins of the name are unclear, but the ideals of the movement are to start and impose a few forms of art onto the world. There is nothing delicate about Dadaism; it is an angry movement which is born to offend and insult. Reviewers and critics have called Dadaism sick, paralyzing and destructive, while others have called it a twisted ‘thing’ which came into existence out of the negative reactions of the First World War.