"Resurgemus" Dada Fair at Cornell University

04/18/2008 - 09:00
05/08/2008 - 09:00
Etc/GMT-5

DADA FAIR AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY!!!
RESURGEMUS
IVY LEAGUE DISTURBANCES AND SUBVERSIONS!!!
RUMBLINGS IN THE BELLY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT!!!!!
OPEN CALL FOR ART, POSTERS, PROPAGANDA!
April 18 - May 8, Risley Hall

During the "Great War to End All Wars" of 1914-1919, a number of artists, writers, radicals, and intellectuals escaped the trenches and fled to Zurich, where they could seek shelter in Switzerland's neutrality.

There they established the DADA MOVEMENT, an art/theatre/literature purge of bourgeois culture and society, all that had led to the absurdly futile bloodletting of their era. This movement, which questioned and revoked just about everything sacred to art and "civilization" spread like wildfire throughout Europe and New York.

In 1920 the Berlin Dadaists held a momentous "Dada Fair", which featured political diatribes, fantastic paintings, cartoons, a stuffed policeman dangling piggily from the ceiling.To this day it evokes joy, laughter, and a recognition of the vitality of this sort of expression.

Here we are in 2008, once again engaged in an extraordinarily futile bloodbath, and once again feeling the impotence of conventional protest. What a perfect time to revive this festival of dissidence, this visual shockwave of irreverence, freedom of speech, and visual "weaponry".

We are holding our 21st century Dada Fair in Risley Hall, a castle in the Cornell University campus that was built in 1913 to house wealthy women students (and their servants), and for many years has been home to art students and students of a non-conformist bent. We intend to take over the massive central hall, and fill it with the most confrontational, thought provoking, and exciting art works, posters, papier mache figures dangling from the rafters, and whatever else comes along.
On Saturday, April 19th, we will open with a grand DADA BALL. All are welcome to join us, hopefully dressed in surreal and shocking costumes.
We also ask for FOOD ART, FOR AUDIENCE CONSUMPTION, from local artists.
Music and performance are welcome!
We are proclaiming an open call for contributions. There are no limits on contributors. Send as much or as little as you see fit.
This is not a normal gallery! We are not able to insure, nor protect, fine artwork. Reproductions are best.
Installations are possible, but video art will be limited.

Resurgemus
Risley Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Deadline for submissions is April 8, 2008.
If you want your work returned, please include wrapping materials for return shipment, and postage.

We will print out a catalogue of participants, with statements about their art.

NAME: ________________________________________________

ADDRESS:_______________________________________________________________________________

E-MAIL: _______________________________________________

Include an ARTIST'S STATEMENT with your work.