Research: Dada and Surrealism

I knew that if I was serious about trying to create a short film which was either completely surrealist or had inspiration from surrealism I was going to have to research and gain a good knowledge of what I was dealing with. The Dadaist and Surrealist movement seemed to be a good place to start. 


Dada began as an anti art movement or more simply a movement against the way art was appreciated by the 'civilised world'. Surrealism was much more than an art movement. Dada and surrealism helped to change the modern consciousness. 
Surrealist art is often referred to as a political statement. Artists were responding to the world they lived in and expressing horror and discomfort. Surrealists often tried to portray reality as a fictional reality of itself. Dadaism was considered one of the most dramatic and unique surrealist movements in the history of the development of art. The Dadaist movements developed out of political unrest, class struggle and social confusion. The movement began at the end of world war one, its said Dadaists were shaped by the destruction and pain of war, they wanted to prove the pointlessness of war to society. Dada was christened in Zurich in 1916. Richard Huelsenbeck claimed that he found the word in an old french dictionary its meaning- 'Hobby Horse'. He said that this proved that "art was as primitive as a childs toy" For the first few years the Dadaist movement was seen as an offering to the possibilities of a new art form. It all changed in 1918 when Picabia arrived in Zurich. Some described meetings with him was like shaking hands with death, his ideas were that emotionally and intellectually powerful. 
After WW1 Germany was also influenced by the Dadaist movement. The German people were angry, hungry, alienated and receptive to anything that illustrated the futility of their existence. Because of this it gave birth to the first international Dada fair in 1920 as a salute to the changing movement in Russia. 
Dadaism was short lived however. 1922, Paris the movement came apart because of conflicting values in members. Surrealism followed with a flair that differed from original Dadaist movement, Surrealists and dramatics believed that the best way to expose societies downfalls was to show it in outlandish extremes. The movements existed through the 1960's by this time the movement had many books and associated with Trosky and other political innovators, making a fundamental change to social systems.