Question I sometimes get from other Dadaists: Yes, you're right. I get all that. But why is Dada the tool for this job? Why try to pull the philosophy back into the dialectic now?
Me: A very astute question, and it's one that comes up every time someone makes Dada their flag. But it's different this time, because all other revivals and reimaginings of Dada, at least so far, have come from within the art world. They have been safe, they have been friendly to the needs and wants of the art world.
But Dada does not belong to the art world, and it never has. It's not useful to the art world, they don't care about it, understand what it means or what it says about them, and they never wanted it.
Instead, it belongs to the malcontents, the outsiders, the lepers of the art world. People who are soundly rejected for what they're saying, and how they're saying it.
And most especially when those people are under active attack for their art.
Who's the one group that fits the bill today?
Us.
Dadaism speaks truth to power.
It is direct action against oppressive moral standards and tyranny.
It speaks anarchy to order.
It spits on everything they hold dear.
And it convicts the smug.
Viva la Dada.
Dada is life