Subversive, irreverent and fiercely anti-authoritarian, Dada made the radical suggestion that anything could be art and anyone an artist. Emerging in the middle of the First World War, Dada writers and artists attempted to dismantle traditional values, norms and codes of communication and thus to deconstruct contemporary culture. They pioneered experiments in interventionist collage, assemblage, performance and the inclusion of the industrially produced readymade. A decisive influence on the development of art during the twentieth century, most of the movements that followed have traced their roots to Dada.

This volume presents a rich selection of the Dadas’ experimental visual and literary works. Covering not only Western Europe and America but also Central and Eastern Europe, Japan and later Neo-Dada, eminent scholar and Director of the International Dada Archive Rudolf Kuenzli gives a lively, accessible and comprehensive assessment. Linking visual art, performance and literature, this is a fresh treatement of Dada as its artists and writers saw it.