Dada is so foxtrot ashtray boolelsj

This is it, you guys… the very last installment of the Shock of the New.
(cry, sob, whine.)
I know; I’m upset too.
Come join us for one last hurrah!  This Saturday, April 7th, we’ll be showing the "The New Shock of the New" followed by speaker Jim Kleug, followed by a mourning session when we all bid a fond farewell to our beloved Shock of the New project.  I assume you will all be inconsolable, but just remember the fun times we’ve shared; we’ll always have the memories.

Here’s one last vocab word of the week to leave you with:

Da•da noun \ˈdä-(ˌ)dä\
: a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values; also : the art and literature produced by this movement

Dada spread through all forms of art, including the visual arts, literature, and performance art. 

Beginning during World War I, Dadaist created ridiculous works of art to mock the ridiculousness of war, as well as the ridiculousness of the modern world.  They were basically anti-everything: anti-war, anti-art, anti-bourgeois.  They were, however, pro-awesome.

Hugo Ball founded a nightclub in Switzerland called the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916.  Here, Dadaists could experiment and perform, which basically meant they could do whatever they wanted.  In one performance, Hugo Ball read his poem “Karawane,” which is a poem made up of entirely nonsense words.  He dressed up in a bizarre, tube-like costume, rendering his body useless.  He had to be carried on and off stage.

And here is the poem he read:

Beautiful.

Another wonderful example of Dada is, of course, Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain.”
Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal signed “R. Mutt” to the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in 1917.  The piece was titled “Fountain.”  Although the rules stated that all submissions would be accepted, “Fountain” was rejected and declared “not art.”  Today, it is called the most influential artwork of the 20th century.

A urinal in a restroom is just a urinal, but a urinal in a museum exhibit… does it become a sculpture?  Is it a work of art because Duchamp says it is a work of art?  Art would never be the same again.
A urinal revolutionized the world of art.