Eva.2016. – Project DADA
Alter Ego Nr. 1 – Eva.2016.
This is my work for the large collective exhibition that the great artist Martina Unterharnscheid invited me to in 2016 – with the title “Broken Words – 100 Years of DADA. More than 40 artists from all over Europe had taken on the theme and the call for entries. I was thrilled to be able to take part, because at that time I also had a great desire to break out of the narrow cage of “recognised contemporary art”.
What exactly is Dada?
Dadaism or Dada is an artistic and literary movement that was founded in 1916.
Dada is actually almost impossible to explain in a single definition. However, the movement is generally regarded as anti-bourgeois, anarchic and Dada art as nonsensical, crazy and wild. The art movement was founded in Zurich in 1916 by Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, Tristan Tzara, Richard Huelsenbeck, Marcel Janco and Hans Arp. In a kind of frenzy, the Dadaists experimented with different styles, materials and forms. When Hugo Ball first recited “verses without words” – so-called sound poems – Dadaism took on something mystical and became a religion for some Dadaists. They were the first performance artists, invented not only the sound poem but also the simultaneous poem (several speakers recite verses at the same time in different languages and tempos) and were pioneers of surrealism and today’s slam poetry.
Collage was also popular with the Dadaists. The Dadaist revolt against society and the value system was expressed through satirical and overused traditional art forms. Significant impulses emanated from Dada on the art of modernism up to contemporary art.
During my research, I came across the sound poem “Das große Lalula” by Christian Morgenstern. He had already worked on sound poetry at the beginning of the 20th century, so he was a pioneer for the Dadaists. I was enthusiastic about the poem and wanted to incorporate it in some way into my work on the subject. This is now the result: my avatar Eva.2016 with the beautiful name The Great LaLeLiLoLu.
A mannequin that doesn’t age, always has the same waist size, feathers instead of hands because I really would like to feel the sensation of flying one day, and that presents my attitude to the topics of “La-chen, Le-ben, Li-eben, Lo-gik, Lu-st” (laughing, living, loving, logic, lust) in the form of quotes on its body. Citations that have found me and that I love.
And then I simply placed the mannequin in the event space. Without any big hint, and as you can see, The Great LaLeLiLoLu was also wonderfully integrated into the crowd of visitors. That’s exactly what I had wished for.
Here are a few detail shots – click on the thumbnail to get a larger view.
