Rethinking the Histories and Legacies of New York Dada

Over the course of the 1920s, Dada became one of the driving forces of avant-garde art production in New York. This cosmopolitan, transatlantic art movement stimulated innovative creative styles, spurred a new magazine culture, altered institutional exhibition strategies, and gave rise to a new breed of collectors. It radically changed art in America and has left an enduring legacy.

This international symposium examines the creative and intellectual distinctiveness of New York Dada and probes the new idioms and ideas to which it gave rise. It extends the scope of inquiry beyond the familiar range of works and artists and proposes new methodologies for studying this field. Key questions include: How did Dada adapt to and alter the social and artistic environment of New York? How did Dada engage with African American art and culture? What made New York Dada different from its European counterparts? How did Dada challenge gender norms and open new pathways for individuals to express themselves both creatively and commercially? What was the legacy of New York Dada in the United States and beyond?   

Day 1: 27 October 10am–5pm 

• Elza Adamowicz (Queen Mary, University of London): After Dada’s Bodies
• David Hopkins (Glasgow University): Unique Eunuchs: New York Dada’s Gender Politics Re-Considered
• Lola Lorant (Université Rennes 2): Bringing Dada Up-to-Date: The Nouveaux Réalistes in New York under the Scrutiny of their Elders
• Michele Greet (George Mason University): Appropriating Picabia: Latin American Artists and the Dada Spirit
• Irene Gammel (Ryerson University): Performing Dada with Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven
• Lewis Kachur (Kean University): Dada Objects in the Surrealist Domain? Duchamp and Man Ray at D’Arcy Galleries (1960)
• Jed Rasula (University of Georgia): Vitamin Dada: Virgin Microbe Meets Word Clash
• David Joselit (Harvard University): Dada’s Persons

Day 2: 28 October, 10am–4pm

• Kathryn Brown (Loughborough University): Refashioning History: Black Dada and the Harlem Renaissance.
• Erica O’Neill (Glasgow University): Duchamp’s Quantum Door
• Talia Kwartler (University College, London): Between Paris and New York: Suzanne Duchamp’s Readymade Paintings
• Wendy Grossman (Phillips Collection): Man Ray and Shifting Narratives of American Art History: From Dada to Neo-Dada
• Catherine Craft (Nasher Sculpture Center): Putting the (New York) Dada in Neo-Dada
• Sarah Archino (Furman University): New York Dada: Starting at the End