Confrontational pacifists
Dadaists are confrontational pacifists whose weapons are words, images and ideas. Dada is also trash, soap, a flat tire and life.
Lynn Cole / Writing
Writing
Essays, thoughts, and technical notes.
How my mentor introduced me to Dada
At eighteen, I showed my mentor Paul a piece of elaborate nothingness. He smiled, opened a book, and introduced me to Dada.
Dada is disobedience, not an aesthetic
Dada is disobedience, not an aesthetic. Even its inherited look becomes something to subvert when the art world makes it safe.
Is AI art too good or not good enough?
Is AI art too good or not good enough? Both complaints keep appearing in the same argument.
An appropriation-art demonstration
An appropriation-art demonstration uses a collage to argue about recontextualization, authorship, references and the right to make provocative art.
Some key points on Dadaism
Some key points on Dadaism: authorship, craft, appropriation, snobbery and the ephemeral status of art.
How art school makes Dada safe
Art school can make Dada safe by rushing past its anger and ideas on the way to Surrealism.
Dada is a philosophy, not a photo filter
Dada can be a photo filter, but it is not defined by the filter. It is a philosophy that challenges aesthetics, authorship and gatekeeping.
Collage, corporate imagery, and a familiar argument
Collage repurposes the images of capitalism. Treating AI as only a corporate creation misses part of that discussion.
The malcontents and the ownership of Dada
Dada is the inheritance of the malcontents, not a clean institutional memory of art history.
Appropriation and participation
Dada introduced chance and repurposed capitalist imagery. Engagement, including disagreement, remains part of its expanding world.
The irony of defending Dada against AI
Defending Dada against AI with the arguments once used against Dada is a remarkable historical irony.