A meditation: Huelsenbeck famously said in the Berlin Dada Manifesto, that all artists are creatures of their epoch.
How the times we live in shape our perceptions about art, and the way we express it. He went on to say "I'm paraphrasing" that it's unreasonable to ask artists to look outside of their epoch. I think that's true, generally. It resonated with me.
So when Huelsenbeck talks about "this moment," that's what he means. This moment. The moment you read this. The here, this moment, this epoch, now but in the abstract. That's confusing, because of the way Berlin's written, but I don't think that's too creative an interpretation.
But I think it goes further than time boxing. I think artists are creatures of their environments and backgrounds. Not just their times.
An artist who comes from a queer background is going to have a different perspective and worldview than someone who doesn't. The kid who's painting on canvases in afghanistan or nigeria is going to have a very different perspective than I do. And that's inevitable, and good.
I think the magic of art is that every bit of it changes the world in some small way. Like a billion little butterflies flapping their wings and cooking up a hurricane.
There are people who want to hamstring art, limit it, put the whole thing in a neat little box where it's safe and tidy, and doesn't speak truth to power. That's because they're aware of its transformative power.
They know what art can be, what it can and has done to structures of power in the past.
Their fears are perfectly justified.
Dada is life my friends