DADA Differently

In the context of Dada’s 100th anniversary, Museum Haus Konstruktiv sheds light on the dadaist legacy from various perspectives. In the historical exhibition “DADA Differently”, the focus is on three outstanding German-speaking artists: Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943), Hannah Höch (1889-1978), and Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874-1927), who all contributed significantly to shaping the Dada movement, which has had rather masculine connotations up until now. At the same time, the selection of these very different protagonists also marks the three geographical centers of the Dada movement, which was first named as such in 1916 in Zurich, spread to Berlin, and found its American manifestation in New York.

For this exhibition project, the decisive factor was the observation that although a number of women played a part in Dada, they were often overshadowed by their male colleagues Hans Arp, Raoul Hausmann, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, and Tristan Tzara. Closer examination reveals a diverse array of experimental works in various media, whereby the multimedia and performance-based approaches of the Dada women in particular still appear surprisingly current. While the works of Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Hannah Höch are shown in exhibitions worldwide to this day, the oeuvre of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven is less well-known, and yet, with her bizarre costumes, radical performances, readymades, and visual poems, she adopted what was probably one of the most provocative positions of her time.

This exhibition combines numerous works from 1916-1923, which major collections in Switzerland and abroad have made available to us. We also establish links to the present day in simultaneous solo exhibitions on the contemporary artists Ulla von Brandenburg and Sadie Murdoch.