The Dada Cabaret Celebrates Art, Community in Downtown Davis
02-20-2009
Contacts:
Hope Mirlis 404-822-8578 hmirlis@ucdavis.edu
Janice Bisgaard 530.752.5863 jbisgaard@ucdavis.edu
Courtesy Photos available: theatredance.ucdavis.edu/media
Thanks to the support of five UC Davis Departments, the Davis Humanities Institute, and a grant from the City of Davis, The Dada Cabaret soon hits Downtown Davis in a one-day extravaganza. This interdisciplinary and collaborative event includes Dada-inspired art-making, live theatre, dance, music, short films, recitations, and art installations on May 16, 2009. Various Dada activities will be spread “scavenger hunt style” around the central downtown area.
The Dada Cabaret is created and directed by UC Davis second-year Masters of Fine Arts in Acting candidate, Hope Mirlis, and her team of artists and organizers. Mirlis says, “The Dada Cabaret should make people smile, as well as think.” Mirlis is engaging the Davis community in the excitement of bringing Dada to town. The City of Davis has awarded one of their highly coveted Civic Arts Contracts to the project. Mirlis will use the grant along with other resources to develop a campus-community celebration.
Downtown Davis Business Association administrator Joy Cohan says the DDBA is thrilled to be part of this event. “The DDBA is supportive of all efforts to increase connections between [the UC Davis campus] and Downtown,” Cohan said. “It will also increase availability of art and artistic endeavors…[The Dada Cabaret] is the best of both worlds.”
Although “Dada means nothing,” according to Richard Huelsenbeck, one of the twentieth century founders of Dadaism, the Dada Movement has created all types of art, poetry, music, and thought. As a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland towards the end of WWI, Dada concentrated its anti-war politic through a rejection of prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. The movement laid the groundwork for abstract art, sound poetry, performance art, postmodernism, pop art, and anti-art. It pushed the avant-garde toward everything from surrealism to punk.
Cabaret Voltaire is the inspiration behind The Dada Cabaret. In 1916 Hugo Ball and his partner Emmy Hennings founded Cabaret Voltaire in neutral Switzerland. Zurich became the center of Dada thought and nonsensical art making, and provided a hot spot for other Dada members such as Tristan Tzara and Jean Arp.
UC Davis first-year Costume Design MFA candidate Sarah Kendrick thinks Dada is still relevant to today’s society. “It is interesting that the Dadaists rebelled against the notions of art and what art was at the time…The way in which they rebelled shaped what art is now,” she said.
To teach the community more about Dada, this spring there will be educational workshops at three Davis public schools. Kindergarten through 12th grade students will explore Dada art and manifestos and create art that will be presented at the May event. Three UC Davis event collaborators will teach at the three two-day workshops.
The five UC Davis departments supporting The Dada Cabaret are Theatre & Dance, Art Studio, Film Studies, French, and German.
For more information, please visit theatredance.ucdavis.edu/season.
What: The Dada Cabaret, one day extravaganza of Dada-inspired art, performance, and learning
When: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Where: Various Locations, Downtown Davis
Tickets: Free of Charge
|