The art movement that began during World War I in Zürich can still be felt in art and design today—especially in it’s use of collage. Dadaist ideas of anti-politics, anti-art and anything anti-establishment were revolutionary at the time and encompassed all arts including literature, poetry, and music. I think many don’t even know about, and/or underestimate, it’s impact as many Dadaists eventually moved into later developments of the avante garde such as Nouveau, Surrealism and Pop Art.

Hannah Hoch, The Beautiful Girl, 1920

Hannah Hoch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Through the First Epoch of the Weimar Beer-Belly Culture, Germany, 1919

The ideas of the founding Dadaists have influenced so many modern and contemporary movements from writers such as Jack Karouac and Alan Ginsberg to photographers such as Robert Frank and Nan Goldin and even Punk Rock. But now, more than ever, I see it’s influence in so many contemporary projects both in the design world and contemporary art. I can still vividly remember the impact the 1997 Hannah Hoch show at the MoMA had on me as an art student and I can’t help seeing her influence in so many things.