
The Growing Charm of Dada - tintinnabula
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/10/27/growing-charm-of-dada/
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mojoe
I would very much appreciate it if someone could explain to me the appeal of
this art form. I understand that many people enjoy experiencing it and
discussing it, but I don't feel like I have the context to understand why. Is
it just the joy of an intellectual exercise wherein there is no right answer?
Is it one of those things where people are having fun being a part of
something that others don't understand? I would guess it's a mixture of many
motivations, and if someone who enjoys this art form is willing to explain it
to me I'd be very happy to listen!

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GuiA
I mean... it's art, right? Different forms resonate with different people.
Usually, trying to justify why results in either fairly personal statements
that either apply to you (in which case they probably don't teach you much) or
don't (in which case they don't get you any closer to understanding the
appeal), or in very verbose and dense academic justifications that don't do
much for the vast majority of people. I get the historical, linguistical, etc
significance of Shakespeare, but I still find his plays painful to read/sir
through and much prefer 20th century theater.

These things also change with age. As you experience various life events,
works that didn't appeal to you in the past suddenly hold much more interest;
and similarly, things that once seemed deep and insightful seem trite and
superficial.

That being said, studying a bit of art history elevated my understanding of it
all; understanding that pretty much all art is a dialog that the creator has
with past works was a big key. To reuse my previous example, I still can't
stand Shakespeare but at least now I get why his work is pretty significant.

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ZenoArrow
> "understanding that pretty much all art is a dialog that the creator has
> with past works was a big key"

I'm not sure I quite see it that way. I mean, yes, you can view art as a
progression where one artist is transforming the art of the past into new
forms, but art goes beyond that.

I think it'll be easier to elaborate by sticking to the musical arts rather
than the visual arts. Consider any piece of music you enjoy. Sure, you can
trace the origins of its style to earlier pieces of music, but to truly
appreciate music you don't need to know that history, the music works as a
standalone piece. It's the same with visual art, the greatest pieces require
very little prior knowledge to appreciate, they instead can stand on their own
merits as something that evokes emotion and/or reflection.

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ZenoArrow
Interesting article, I didn't know what Dada was before, I can see the appeal.

I don't know enough about either to really be sure, but I got the sense of
some parallels with metamodernism, in that both seem to be a form of life as
performance art, playfully both serious and silly at the same time. This video
helped introduce metamodernism to me:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6dsECbVahBw](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6dsECbVahBw)

