The Berlinische Galerie has an extensive collection of DADA artworks, in particular by Hannah H\u00f6ch. The Rietberg Museum can establish a connection to DADA on account of two significant collectors: Eduard von der Heydt, whose collection of non-European art inspired several DADA artists and became the museum\u2019s foundation collection; as well as Han Coray, who opened the first DADA gallery in Zurich and exhibited DADA art in tandem with African art.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
![\"Hannah_Hoech_Aus_einem_ethnographischen_Museum_Nr_X_5MB\"](\"http:\/\/3.230.254.106\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Hannah_Hoech_Aus_einem_ethnographischen_Museum_Nr_X_5MB.jpg\")
<\/a>Hannah H\u00f6ch, Untitled, from an ethnological museum. Collage. Courtesy of the Berlinische Galerie<\/p><\/div>\n
.<\/p>\n
With this as its basis, the\u00a0DADA Afrika<\/i>\u00a0exhibition sheds light on an aspect of the creative practice of many DADA artists that has so far been largely ignored: their fascination with non-European art. Many DADA collages are praised by art historians for their technique and their radical messages. However, the use of images of African masks is at best a marginal note and has as yet not been researched in detail. Especially in the exhibition catalogue, significant research findings regarding the provenance of the images used are cited, providing insights into the reception of African art in Central Europe in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n
The onomatopoetic poems by Richard Huelsenbeck and Tristan Tzara also have a link to the African continent. \u201cUmba\u201d, called out as a seemingly meaningless word fragment between verses, was a popular joke among audiences. In actual fact, Umba is the name of a river forming the border between Kenya and Tanzania, where at the beginning of World War I, colonial troops from Britain and the German Reich stood facing one another. Did the audience in Zurich know this at the time? Today at least barely an art historian has this knowledge.<\/p>\n
By using African words and masks taken out of their original context, the DADA artists wanted to provoke. But \u2013 and in this they were following a long-standing tradition \u2013 they also wanted to hold a mirror up to the Europeans. Countering Europe\u2019s degenerateness, Africa served as the pure, ideal and original antithesis. They did not bother to acquaint themselves with African realities.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the DADA artists drew on the same stereotypes as the colonialists did. On the one hand masks could be used to instill fear, on the other they could refer to a better \u2013 because more original \u2013 world; and the Africans\u2019 alleged lack of history could be interpreted in any way one pleased. The DADA artists did this without restraint.<\/p>\n
Regarding this in a critical light today, one would justifiably have to reproach the DADA artists for the way they dealt with African cultures. However, in the exhibition and in several essays in the catalogue, it is alleged that DADA appreciated African art and regarded it as potentially equal. Although this is a possible interpretation, this assumption evokes a feeling of unease.<\/p>\n
With its glass cabinets and framed pictures, the exhibition itself does not exude any sort of DADA atmosphere, displaying DADA art and African artifacts alongside each other without descriptions. This is supposed to emphasize the equal value of the art \u2013 which only works to a limited extent. Ultimately it only shows the African artifacts the DADA artists used for their work. And the categorization into different DADA chapters, for example \u201cDADA Magie\u201d (DADA magic), seems rather questionable.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
![\"Installation](\"http:\/\/3.230.254.106\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Museum-Berlin_Ausstellungsansicht-Dada-Afrika_06.jpg\")
<\/a>Installation view Dada Afrika – Dialog mit dem Fremden, 2016, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin. Courtesy of the Berlinische Galerie<\/p><\/div>\n
.<\/p>\n
DADA Afrika<\/i>\u00a0reveals a conservative exhibition policy, presenting the context of European art and Africa as a one-way street. At most, African artists are attributed the passive role of suppliers of artifacts.<\/p>\n
But there are other ways, as the exhibition\u00a0Dada South<\/i>\u00a0at Iziko National Gallery in Cape Town (2009\/10) demonstrated. In their noteworthy essay in the exhibition catalogue, co-curators Kathryn Smith and Roger van Wyk describe DADA as having a lively history within Africa. DADA is presented as an artistic potential in the resistance against the apartheid regime and against neo-colonial dynamics in Africa. The exhibition showed original DADA artworks that were, however, placed in a current context so as not to present the connection between Europe and Africa as a one-sided affair. Why this idea was not taken up again for the current exhibition in Berlin remains open.<\/p>\n
Africa is not merely a projection surface, as displayed in the exhibition, but, as Tristan Tzara once wrote, also a continent of the future. The Berlinische Galerie has passed up the chance to prove this.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
DADA Afrika \u2013 Dialog mit dem Fremden, August 5 – November 7, 2016, Berlinische\u00a0Galerie, Berlin.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n .
\nSpunk\u00a0<\/strong>Seipel<\/b>\u00a0is based in Berlin and Vrane nad Vlatvou. He studied Art\u00a0History and Business Studies \u00a0in Berlin and Vienna.\u00a0Seipel has worked as a curator among others in Berlin, Prag, Bukarest, London, Johannesburg, Harare, Cape Town and Windhoek.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":19214,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[1352,1354,1355],"magazine-type":[25],"class_list":["post-19213","magazines","type-magazines","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-berlinische-galerie","tag-dada","tag-spunk-seipel","magazine-type-rezension"],"core_raw":{"post_title":"Dada, what's up with that?","post_content":"[:de] \r\n\r\nDada und Afrika ist ein vom europ\u00e4ischen Publikum bisher ignoriertes Thema, das in der Presse zu einer \u201eNeuentdeckung\u201c stilisiert wurde. Dabei macht der Ausstellungstitel DADA Afrika \u2013 Dialog mit dem Fremden<\/i> deutlich, dass hier eine konservative Sichtweise vertreten wird und die VertreterInnen des Dadaismus europ\u00e4ische und afrikanische Kulturen keineswegs als gleichwertig ansahen.\r\n\r\nDie Ausstellung ist das Ergebnis einer ungew\u00f6hnlichen Zusammenarbeit zweier inhaltlich sehr unterschiedlich ausgerichteter Museen: Des ethnologischen Museums Rietberg in Z\u00fcrich, in dem die Ausstellung zuerst gezeigt wurde, und der Berlinischen Galerie, spezialisiert auf Berliner Kunst seit 1880. Anlass f\u00fcr diese Zusammenarbeit ist der hundertste Geburtstag von DADA. Z\u00fcrich und Berlin waren Zentren dieser Bewegung.\r\n\r\nDie Berlinische Galerie<\/a> verf\u00fcgt \u00fcber einen gro\u00dfen Bestand von DADA-Kunstwerken, vor allem von Hannah H\u00f6ch. Das Rietberg Museum<\/a> kann die Verbindung zu DADA \u00fcber zwei bedeutende Sammler herstellen: Eduard von der Heydt, dessen Sammlung au\u00dfereurop\u00e4ischer Kunst einige DADA-K\u00fcnstlerInnen inspirierte und zur Gr\u00fcndungsstiftung f\u00fcr das Museum wurde; sowie Han Coray, der in Z\u00fcrich die erste DADA-Galerie er\u00f6ffnete und DADA-Kunst zusammen mit afrikanischer Kunst ausstellte.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_19230\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"568\"]<\/a> Hannah H\u00f6ch, ohne Titel, aus einem ethnologischen Museum. Collage. Courtesy die Berlinische Galerie[\/caption]\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDas ist die Grundlage f\u00fcr die DADA Afrika<\/i> Ausstellung, die das Augenmerk auf einen bislang weitgehend ignorierten Aspekt des Schaffens vieler DADA-K\u00fcnstlerInnen lenkt: ihre Begeisterung f\u00fcr au\u00dfereurop\u00e4ische Kunst. Viele DADA-Collagen werden von KunsthistorikerInnen wegen ihrer Technik und ihrer radikalen Aussagen gepriesen. Aber die Verwendung von Abbildungen afrikanischer Masken ist bestenfalls eine Randnotiz wert und wurde bislang nicht eingehend erforscht. Besonders im Ausstellungskatalog sind wichtige Forschungsergebnisse \u00fcber die Herkunft der verwendeten Bilder angef\u00fchrt, die Einblick in die Rezeption afrikanischer Kunst Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts in Mitteleuropa geben.\r\n\r\nAuch die lautmalerischen Gedichte von Richard Huelsenbeck und Tristan Tzara haben einen Bezug zum afrikanischen Kontinent. \u201eUmba\u201c, als scheinbar sinnloser Wortfetzen zwischen Versen gerufen, war beim Publikum als Witz beliebt. Tats\u00e4chlich ist Umba der Name eines Grenzflusses zwischen Kenia und Tansania, an dem sich zu Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges koloniale Truppen aus England und dem Deutschen Reich gegen\u00fcberstanden. War dies dem damaligen Publikum in Z\u00fcrich bekannt? Heute wei\u00df es zumindest kaum ein Kunsthistoriker.\r\n\r\nDie DADA-K\u00fcnstlerInnen wollten mit der Verwendung von aus ihrem urspr\u00fcnglichen Kontext genommenen afrikanischen W\u00f6rtern und Masken provozieren. Aber sie wollten damit auch, und darin stehen sie in einer langen Tradition, den Europ\u00e4ern einen Spiegel vorhalten. Der Verkommenheit Europas diente Afrika als ideales, reines und urspr\u00fcngliches Gegenbild. \u00dcber die Realit\u00e4ten in Afrika informierten sie sich nicht.\r\n\r\nLetztendlich bedienten sich die DADA-K\u00fcnstlerInnen derselben Klischees \u00fcber Afrika wie die KolonialistInnen. Mit Masken konnte man einerseits Furcht erwecken, andererseits auf eine bessere, weil urspr\u00fcngliche Welt verweisen, und in die angebliche Geschichtslosigkeit der AfrikanerInnen hineininterpretieren, was man wollte. Die DADA-K\u00fcnstlerInnen machten davon reichlich Gebrauch.\r\n\r\nAus heutiger kritischer Sicht m\u00fcsste man den DADA-K\u00fcnstlerInnen berechtigte Vorw\u00fcrfe hinsichtlich ihres Umgangs mit afrikanischen Kulturen machen. In der Ausstellung und in mehreren Aufs\u00e4tzen im Katalog wird dagegen behauptet, DADA habe die afrikanische Kunst gew\u00fcrdigt und als potentiell gleichberechtigt gesehen. Zwar ist das eine m\u00f6gliche Interpretation, doch die ruft ein gewisses Unbehagen hervor.\r\n\r\nDie Ausstellung selbst, die mit ihren Glask\u00e4sten und gerahmten Bildern keinerlei DADA-Atmosph\u00e4re verbreitet, stellt DADA-Kunst und afrikanische Artefakte ohne Beschriftung nebeneinander. Dies soll die Gleichwertigkeit der Kunst hervorheben. Das funktioniert sehr begrenzt. Letztendlich wird nur gezeigt, welche afrikanischen Artefakte die DADA K\u00fcnstler f\u00fcr sich nutzten. Die Gliederung in verschiedene DADA-Kapitel, wie beispielsweise \u201eDADA Magie\u201c, wirkt dabei mehr als fragw\u00fcrdig.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_19231\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2479\"]<\/a> Installationsansicht Dada Afrika - Dialog mit dem Fremden, 2016, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin. Courtesy die Berlinische Galerie[\/caption]\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDADA Afrika<\/i> offenbart eine konservative Ausstellungspolitik, die den Zusammenhang von europ\u00e4ischer Kunst und Afrika als Einbahnstra\u00dfe zeigt. Afrikanischen K\u00fcnstlerInnen wird hier maximal eine passive Rolle als LieferantInnen von Artefakten zugesprochen.\r\n\r\nDabei geht es auch anders, wie die Ausstellung Dada South<\/i> 2009\/10 in der Iziko National Gallery Kapstadt bewiesen hat. In ihrem lesenswerten Aufsatz im Katalog zur Ausstellung beschreiben die beiden Co-KuratorInnen Kathryn Smith und Roger van Wyk DADA als eine lebendige Geschichte in Afrika. DADA wird als k\u00fcnstlerisches Potential im Widerstand gegen das Apartheidregime und gegen neokoloniale Str\u00f6mungen in Afrika gezeigt. In der Ausstellung wurden originale DADA-Kunstwerke pr\u00e4sentiert, doch in einen aktuellen Kontext gestellt, der den Kontakt zwischen Europa und Afrika nicht als einseitige Angelegenheit darstellt. Warum diese Idee nicht f\u00fcr die aktuelle Ausstellung in Berlin aufgegriffen wurde, bleibt offen.\r\n\r\nAfrika ist nicht nur eine Projektionsfl\u00e4che, wie es diese Ausstellung zeigt, sondern, wie Tristan Tzara einst schrieb, auch ein Kontinent der Zukunft. Die Berlinische Galerie hat eine Chance vertan, dies zu beweisen.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDADA Afrika \u2013 Dialog mit dem Fremden, 5. August - 7. November 2016, Berlinische\u00a0Galerie, Berlin.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\n \r\n<\/a> Hannah H\u00f6ch, Untitled, from an ethnological museum. Collage. Courtesy of the Berlinische Galerie[\/caption]\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nWith this as its basis, the DADA Afrika<\/i> exhibition sheds light on an aspect of the creative practice of many DADA artists that has so far been largely ignored: their fascination with non-European art. Many DADA collages are praised by art historians for their technique and their radical messages. However, the use of images of African masks is at best a marginal note and has as yet not been researched in detail. Especially in the exhibition catalogue, significant research findings regarding the provenance of the images used are cited, providing insights into the reception of African art in Central Europe in the early 20th century.\r\n\r\nThe onomatopoetic poems by Richard Huelsenbeck and Tristan Tzara also have a link to the African continent. \u201cUmba\u201d, called out as a seemingly meaningless word fragment between verses, was a popular joke among audiences. In actual fact, Umba is the name of a river forming the border between Kenya and Tanzania, where at the beginning of World War I, colonial troops from Britain and the German Reich stood facing one another. Did the audience in Zurich know this at the time? Today at least barely an art historian has this knowledge.\r\n\r\nBy using African words and masks taken out of their original context, the DADA artists wanted to provoke. But \u2013 and in this they were following a long-standing tradition \u2013 they also wanted to hold a mirror up to the Europeans. Countering Europe\u2019s degenerateness, Africa served as the pure, ideal and original antithesis. They did not bother to acquaint themselves with African realities.\r\n\r\nUltimately, the DADA artists drew on the same stereotypes as the colonialists did. On the one hand masks could be used to instill fear, on the other they could refer to a better \u2013 because more original \u2013 world; and the Africans\u2019 alleged lack of history could be interpreted in any way one pleased. The DADA artists did this without restraint.\r\n\r\nRegarding this in a critical light today, one would justifiably have to reproach the DADA artists for the way they dealt with African cultures. However, in the exhibition and in several essays in the catalogue, it is alleged that DADA appreciated African art and regarded it as potentially equal. Although this is a possible interpretation, this assumption evokes a feeling of unease.\r\n\r\nWith its glass cabinets and framed pictures, the exhibition itself does not exude any sort of DADA atmosphere, displaying DADA art and African artifacts alongside each other without descriptions. This is supposed to emphasize the equal value of the art \u2013 which only works to a limited extent. Ultimately it only shows the African artifacts the DADA artists used for their work. And the categorization into different DADA chapters, for example \u201cDADA Magie\u201d (DADA magic), seems rather questionable.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_19231\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2479\"]<\/a> Installation view Dada Afrika - Dialog mit dem Fremden, 2016, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin. Courtesy of the Berlinische Galerie[\/caption]\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDADA Afrika<\/i> reveals a conservative exhibition policy, presenting the context of European art and Africa as a one-way street. At most, African artists are attributed the passive role of suppliers of artifacts.\r\n\r\nBut there are other ways, as the exhibition Dada South<\/i> at Iziko National Gallery in Cape Town (2009\/10) demonstrated. In their noteworthy essay in the exhibition catalogue, co-curators Kathryn Smith and Roger van Wyk describe DADA as having a lively history within Africa. DADA is presented as an artistic potential in the resistance against the apartheid regime and against neo-colonial dynamics in Africa. The exhibition showed original DADA artworks that were, however, placed in a current context so as not to present the connection between Europe and Africa as a one-sided affair. Why this idea was not taken up again for the current exhibition in Berlin remains open.\r\n\r\nAfrica is not merely a projection surface, as displayed in the exhibition, but, as Tristan Tzara once wrote, also a continent of the future. The Berlinische Galerie has passed up the chance to prove this.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDADA Afrika \u2013 Dialog mit dem Fremden, August 5 - November 7, 2016, Berlinische\u00a0Galerie, Berlin.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\r\n\r\n.\r\nSpunk\u00a0<\/strong>Seipel<\/b>\u00a0is based in Berlin and Vrane nad Vlatvou. He studied Art\u00a0History and Business Studies \u00a0in Berlin and Vienna.\u00a0Seipel has worked as a curator among others in Berlin, Prag, Bukarest, London, Johannesburg, Harare, Cape Town and Windhoek.\u00a0<\/em>[:fr] \r\n\r\nSo far, the issue of Dadaism and Africa has been ignored by the European public, although in the media it has been stylized as a \u201cnew discovery\u201d. The exhibition\u2019s title, however,\u00a0DADA Afrika \u2013 Dialog mit dem Fremden<\/i>\u00a0(DADA Africa \u2013 dialogue with the other) signifies a conservative approach and that Dadaists were far from recognizing European and African cultures as equal.\r\n\r\nThe exhibition is the result of an unusual collaboration between two museums with distinctly different focus areas: the ethnological\u00a0Museum Rietberg\u00a0<\/a>in Zurich, where the exhibition was first shown, and\u00a0Berlinische Galerie<\/a>, specializing on art from Berlin since 1880. The occasion for this collaboration is the centenary of DADA. Zurich and Berlin were the centers of this movement.\r\n\r\nThe Berlinische Galerie has an extensive collection of DADA artworks, in particular by Hannah H\u00f6ch. The Rietberg Museum can establish a connection to DADA on account of two significant collectors: Eduard von der Heydt, whose collection of non-European art inspired several DADA artists and became the museum\u2019s foundation collection; as well as Han Coray, who opened the first DADA gallery in Zurich and exhibited DADA art in tandem with African art.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_19230\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"546\"]<\/a> Hannah H\u00f6ch, Untitled, from an ethnological museum. Collage. Courtesy of the Berlinische Galerie[\/caption]\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nWith this as its basis, the\u00a0DADA Afrika<\/i>\u00a0exhibition sheds light on an aspect of the creative practice of many DADA artists that has so far been largely ignored: their fascination with non-European art. Many DADA collages are praised by art historians for their technique and their radical messages. However, the use of images of African masks is at best a marginal note and has as yet not been researched in detail. Especially in the exhibition catalogue, significant research findings regarding the provenance of the images used are cited, providing insights into the reception of African art in Central Europe in the early 20th century.\r\n\r\nThe onomatopoetic poems by Richard Huelsenbeck and Tristan Tzara also have a link to the African continent. \u201cUmba\u201d, called out as a seemingly meaningless word fragment between verses, was a popular joke among audiences. In actual fact, Umba is the name of a river forming the border between Kenya and Tanzania, where at the beginning of World War I, colonial troops from Britain and the German Reich stood facing one another. Did the audience in Zurich know this at the time? Today at least barely an art historian has this knowledge.\r\n\r\nBy using African words and masks taken out of their original context, the DADA artists wanted to provoke. But \u2013 and in this they were following a long-standing tradition \u2013 they also wanted to hold a mirror up to the Europeans. Countering Europe\u2019s degenerateness, Africa served as the pure, ideal and original antithesis. They did not bother to acquaint themselves with African realities.\r\n\r\nUltimately, the DADA artists drew on the same stereotypes as the colonialists did. On the one hand masks could be used to instill fear, on the other they could refer to a better \u2013 because more original \u2013 world; and the Africans\u2019 alleged lack of history could be interpreted in any way one pleased. The DADA artists did this without restraint.\r\n\r\nRegarding this in a critical light today, one would justifiably have to reproach the DADA artists for the way they dealt with African cultures. However, in the exhibition and in several essays in the catalogue, it is alleged that DADA appreciated African art and regarded it as potentially equal. Although this is a possible interpretation, this assumption evokes a feeling of unease.\r\n\r\nWith its glass cabinets and framed pictures, the exhibition itself does not exude any sort of DADA atmosphere, displaying DADA art and African artifacts alongside each other without descriptions. This is supposed to emphasize the equal value of the art \u2013 which only works to a limited extent. Ultimately it only shows the African artifacts the DADA artists used for their work. And the categorization into different DADA chapters, for example \u201cDADA Magie\u201d (DADA magic), seems rather questionable.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_19231\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2479\"]<\/a> Installation view Dada Afrika - Dialog mit dem Fremden, 2016, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin. Courtesy of the Berlinische Galerie[\/caption]\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDADA Afrika<\/i>\u00a0reveals a conservative exhibition policy, presenting the context of European art and Africa as a one-way street. At most, African artists are attributed the passive role of suppliers of artifacts.\r\n\r\nBut there are other ways, as the exhibition\u00a0Dada South<\/i>\u00a0at Iziko National Gallery in Cape Town (2009\/10) demonstrated. In their noteworthy essay in the exhibition catalogue, co-curators Kathryn Smith and Roger van Wyk describe DADA as having a lively history within Africa. DADA is presented as an artistic potential in the resistance against the apartheid regime and against neo-colonial dynamics in Africa. The exhibition showed original DADA artworks that were, however, placed in a current context so as not to present the connection between Europe and Africa as a one-sided affair. Why this idea was not taken up again for the current exhibition in Berlin remains open.\r\n\r\nAfrica is not merely a projection surface, as displayed in the exhibition, but, as Tristan Tzara once wrote, also a continent of the future. The Berlinische Galerie has passed up the chance to prove this.\r\n\r\n.\r\n\r\nDADA Afrika \u2013 Dialog mit dem Fremden, August 5 - November 7, 2016, Berlinische\u00a0Galerie, Berlin.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\r\n\r\n.\r\nSpunk\u00a0<\/strong>Seipel<\/b>\u00a0is based in Berlin and Vrane nad Vlatvou. He studied Art\u00a0History and Business Studies \u00a0in Berlin and Vienna.\u00a0Seipel has worked as a curator among others in Berlin, Prag, Bukarest, London, Johannesburg, Harare, Cape Town and Windhoek.\u00a0<\/em>[:]","post_excerpt":""},"acf":{"video_url":null,"Dachzeile":"Review: Dada Africa","mag_subtitle":"Dadaism is the inspiration for an exhibition exploring its links with art from African contexts at the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin","mag_author":"Spunk Seipel","mag_abstract":"Dadaism is the inspiration for an exhibition exploring its links with art from African contexts at the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin","mag_pubdate":null,"image_container":null,"modul_1":null,"modul_4":null,"modul_5":null,"modul_2":null,"modul_3":null,"teaser":null,"smys":null,"image_only_slide":null},"yoast_head":"\n