The Birth of DADA with Aneta Georgievska-Shine, Professor of Art History, University of Maryland

This opening in this three part series lecture situates the emergence of Dada within the turbulent context of World War I and the disillusionment that gripped Europe. It explores the Cabaret Voltaire as the birthplace of the movement, where figures such as Hugo Ball, Emmy Hennings, and Tristan Tzara staged absurdist performances that mocked authority and reason. Through manifestos, performances, and visual experiments, Dada’s founders articulated an art of negation—rejecting logic, nationalism, and bourgeois culture in favor of spontaneity, chance, and provocation.

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